Mass Effect: Promises Kept (AU - Mass Effect 2)
by Daniel Sullivan
Summary: Commander Shepard and Miranda are thrown together to face down the Collectors, and their masters, the Reapers. The two have a hard time gelling initially, particularly as he's Alliance and she's Cerberus, plus the fact that they've never met ... or have they?
1. Chapter 1: A Childhood Memory

**Introduction**

 _Mass Effect: A Promise Kept_ , is a stand-alone story. The concept is a request from Storylover90, another member. While not _quite_ an AU story (The major events are still in place, and neither Shepard nor Miranda's childhoods are detailed, and Shepard's is variable anyway), the concept sent to me involved some minor, but fairly noticeable differences to some of the ME-2  & 3 story arcs.

I have several projects going on right now, but the prose was coming to me, so it had to be put to paper (or keyboard) before it was lost. As I usually do, I am releasing it one or two chapters at a time.

Enjoy!

 **Chapter 1 – A Childhood Memory**

 **2162 -** Miranda Lawson stared out her window as the snow fell. Her father had moved them from Sidney, Australia to the new neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia in the United States in October, but the girl had not been able to make new friends. It was not for lack of trying; Miranda had impeccable manners and was very bright, but her father seemed to sabotage most every friendship she developed. It seemed that she was permitted nothing but tending to her studies, and they had moved frequently. Miranda's intelligence had made her stand out as well, and other kids were intimidated by her, further complicating her efforts at having normal friendships. It was now December, and school had let out for winter break, and Miranda found herself alone … and bored.

That was when she saw the moving van pull up to the house across the street. The new neighbors were finally moving in. The house had been empty for weeks, with a brief visit from a tall woman in an Alliance Navy officer's uniform, who had arrived with the realtor.

A car pulled into the driveway, and the same woman got out, but this time, a boy alighted from the passenger side. He looked to be younger than she, but not by too much. Miranda could not tell; the boy was tall, like the woman, presumably his mother, and wore casual clothes. Also like his mother, he carried himself with a military bearing. Miranda shook her head. She hated how the military took people and molded them, stamping out any individuality. Perhaps it reminded her too much of her own father's parenting style.

She sighed as she sat in the window, jutting her lower lip forward and blowing her hair from her eyes. She realized that the boy had seen her and was waving to her. Miranda was twelve years old, and the boy was no older than nine, but he was the first kid in the neighborhood who had taken any notice of her. His mother placed a hand on his shoulder, and Miranda could hear her scold the boy for looking into a girl's bedroom window. She laughed in spite of herself, and gave him a small wave back, smiling and giggling at the sight. She then slowly uncoiled her long legs from beneath her and got up from the ledge of the bay window.

"He's the first one to even acknowledge my existence in this backwater town," she said aloud. "I suppose I should reward him by going outside and welcoming him to the neighborhood." Her father was out, and she had completed all of the busywork assignments he had foisted on her, so she was ready to go outside anyway. Putting on a coat and boots, she bounded down the stairs and out the front door. "Freedom at last," she said to herself.

She saw the boy's mother directing the movers, and the boy trying to help, only to be waved off by the movers, and his mother to direct him to play in the snow. There had already been a good ten centimeters of snow on the ground before it started snowing in the morning, and by now, the snow on the lawn was up to almost fourteen centimeters. Seeing this, the boy began making a snow man. She watched him go to the car and remove a bucket filled with coal and a carrot, and a hat, apparently having anticipated the activity.

It was at that moment that Miranda realized that her father had denied her that simple pleasure. Playing; Doctor Lawson had no regard for it. Miranda was to be his legacy, a perfect girl who would be the next step in human development. When she was very young, she thought it made her special. Now, however, she saw it for what it was; stifling bondage. _I'm going to go help that kid build his snowman, and I'm going to go home in soaked through clothes_ , she thought.

An eight year old John Amell got out of the car and took stock of their new home in Arlington, Virginia. The house was nice enough, though the development had sprung up around a much larger home that predated the development. The mansion had probably had a much larger front yard at one time, but progress and development had chipped away at the front yard until the mansion was only fifty feet from the street. From what John could tell, the mansion's back yard was expansive. He turned back to the much smaller rambler home that they were moving into, sighing. _If only my father were here._

His mother, Hannah Amell, a former US Marine, and now a lieutenant in the newly formed Alliance Marines, and Zach Shepard, a Navy star ship captain, had been star crossed lovers from the moment they met, Hannah conceiving John on the night they had met. Though deeply in love, it seemed that they were never able to work out getting married and settling down. While Shepard had been deployed, a pregnant Hannah had to be relocated due to the crash of a transport ship nearby, and exposure to element zero.

Captain Shepard came to visit as often as he could, but John had only vague memories of him. He had been captain of the SSV Antietam, and in 2157, when John was only three, Captain Shepard was deployed in what would become known as the First Contact War. The Antietam was destroyed when Shepard's flanking action allowed the rest of the fleet to escape, costing the captain his life.

Up to now, John's life had been one of frequent moves, courtesy of the military, and a string of boyfriends for his mother, none of whom turned out to be stepfather material, and nearly all of whom found the young boy to be a distraction to their pursuit of his mother. This latest move had brought them from Camp Pendleton in San Diego to Arlington, VA, where John found himself mesmerized by the beautiful snowfall, something he had never seen in his brief life. It made him forget about the events that had led to his being here.

Though he offered assistance, the movers politely turned him away, and his mother had directed him to make the most of the snowfall. He had come prepared, and removed his bucket of coal, a carrot, and an old leather aviator's helmet from the station wagon, and set to making his creation. He put the bucket down and took a brief look across the street at the mansion. Something in the one of the bay windows caught his eye.

It was a girl, with long, wavy dark hair. Even from this distance, though, he could see her ice blue eyes. He was enraptured by the girl, and found himself waving to her. To his amazement, she waved back.

"John, don't you go staring into strange girls' bedrooms!" His mother's admonition was accompanied by a firm hand on his shoulder.

The girl smiled and waved back to him. It was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. John had not developed a romantic interest in girls, but he could not help but admire this black haired beauty. He dutifully followed his mother's orders and went back to his snow man, suddenly thrilled to be living across from the mysterious girl in the large house.

Miranda's long legs carried her across the street and into the new neighbor's lawn in no time. At twelve, Miranda had grown tall, and was practically all legs, though her bosom had begun filling out. She felt awkward; long and gangly, with points in places that drew uncourteous stairs from male classmates. But her long limbs and her father's insistence that she practice dancing, fencing, and taekwondo had made her graceful, strong, and most of all, swift, and she now stood in front of the boy whose eye she had caught. He was working at the first ball of snow that would serve as the snow man's body. A hat, several chunks of coal in a bucket, and a carrot sat beside it. The boy seemed to sense her arrival and turned his head, lighting up at the sight of her.

"Hi; my name's John, John Amell." he stood, tall and straight, like a young marine, and extended his hand.

"Miranda Lawson," she replied, taking the offered hand. He was tall, though not as tall as she was, and she could see that he was probably only about eight or nine now that she stood face to face with him. "But _you_ may call me Miri."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Miri," he said formally.

Miranda giggled at the formal way the boy spoke. "And I am pleased to make yours, John," she laughed. "But enough formality; let's build your snowman."

He nodded, and then remarked, "You have a lovely voice, Miri."

Miranda giggled in spite of herself, strangely flattered by the boy's earnest words. She imagined that he had never heard an Australian accent outside of the vids.

It did not take long for the two of them to build the snowman, which he topped with an old, leather aviator's helmet, and dubbed, "Captain Shepard." He then bowed his head, a distant, sad expression on his face. It reminded her of someone visiting a grave.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes," he replied. "My father was Captain Shepard. He was the Antietam's shipmaster. He died in the first contact war."

Miranda put an arm around him, giving him a gentle squeeze. "I'm sorry, John."

"It's okay," he replied. "He saved a lot of lives. He was a hero. But now, he gets to be here, protecting mom and me."

"Have him protect my house too, John," she said. "My dad's a doctor and a businessman, not a soldier, like your dad was … or your mom."

"My mom's a marine," he proudly declared.

"My mom … I don't know what she was …" Miranda had never received a satisfactory answer from her father about what had happened to her mother. There was no death, no divorce; nothing. For all she knew, her mother was alive and well somewhere, having abandoned her daughter. She clenched her fists at the thought.

"Miri … are _you_ alright?"

"Just … a little sad," she confessed. "I never knew my mom."

"Maybe my mom and your dad could meet," he offered. "If they married, you'd be my sister!"

Miranda laughed at his hopeful thought, but she would never want to subject her new friend to her father. "John, I like you better as my friend. You're my only one since I've moved here, you know?"

"Then we can play together," he said, now cheerful. "What do you want to do?"

"Make snow angels!" With that, Miranda flopped down on the ground and began flapping her arms and legs until she made the imprint in the ground of an angel.

John followed suit, and before long, the snowman was surrounded by snow angels. Miranda stood up, feeling the dampness of the snow through her jeans. _Clothes soaking through, made a new friend, had fun,_ she thought. _Mission accomplished!_ Then a mischievous smile cross her face, as an equally mischievous idea crossed her mind.

John stood up after making his last angel, and looked at the movers. The truck was a seemingly endless supply of furniture and boxes. Before he could contemplate further, he felt snow explode on his back, prompting him to whirl around, only to see a giggling, smiling Miri armed with a snowball.

"Snowball fight," she shouted, and then pelted him with another one.

John scooped up snow in each hand and pelted her back, surprised at how accurate he was. Soon, the two of them had taken up positions on opposite sides of the driveway, hurling snowballs over and around the car at each other before long, both of them were soaked through.

The pair laughed and giggled as they pelted each other with snow, until finally, Lieutenant Amell came out and brought it to a halt.

"You two are soaked!"

John dropped his snowball and stood at attention when his mother called out, prompting Miranda to fire off one last snowball, catching him on the shoulder. It exploded in a fine powder and sprayed his face and hair. "Sorry," she said sheepishly.

He smiled back at her, unable to be mad at his angelic new friend. "Mom, This is Miri Lawson. May we come inside for hot chocolate?"

"Pleased to meet you, Miri Lawson," Lieutenant Amell replied. "I was just about to suggest that, John. Come on, you two. Let's get you inside before you catch pneumonia!"

From that day, John and Miri became inseparable. Miranda recalled how bright the young John Amell had been, and how she had hoped that neither of them would move for some time. Days became weeks, and weeks became months, and the friendship between the two grew closer and stronger. By spring, he had grown noticeably, now long and lanky like Miranda. Both of them had April birthdays, John's on the eleventh and hers on the twelfth. Henry Lawson did not make a point of celebrating such things, but Lieutenant Amell invited Miranda to John's party. Miranda had been shocked to find that the party was for her as well. John and Miri had exchanged holo-pictures of each other as gifts, so that each could have their friend with them when they were apart.

She spent as much time as she could in the Amell house, which felt like more of a home than the cold, empty mansion she lived in. Lieutenant Hannah Amell had become like a mom to her, praising her, supporting her, and providing a motherly ear for Miranda when she needed it most.

The summer was filled with outdoor activity, and Miranda had been surprised by how much freedom her father had been giving her of late. Apparently, her hiking, biking, and playing with John had precipitated improvements in her studies, though she had no idea what they might have been; she had carried a perfect GPA ever since starting school.

It was a Sunday in late August, and the magical summer was winding down. The two had returned from cycling, and each was about to go to their separate home when it happened.

"I wish I could go home with you, Miri," John suddenly said, a dark, bitter look on his face.

"John, what's wrong?" She could not imagine the strong, independent minded boy wanting to live under Henry Lawson's roof.

"My mom … she has this new boyfriend. He hits her. I pushed him away from her when I caught him yesterday, and he punched me in the gut. She told him not to come back, but she was back on vid-chat with him this morning, trying to work it out … she was … apologizing to that scum-sucking bastard!"

"I always thought of your mother as being strong," Miranda observed. "She's a marine, for god's sake."

"Yeah, so is he. My dad was a marine too, before serving with the fleet. It makes sense for her to date a marine, but this guy is the worst. I like Lieutenant Toni a lot better, but I think he's involved with someone."

Miranda lowered the kickstand and got off of her bike and hugged him tightly. "That's terrible. If you need me, tell me; I'll do whatever I can." It was a promise from a thirteen year old girl, but she meant every word of it.

He held her tightly, crying on her shoulder for a few moments. Finally, he pulled himself together and stood up. He was still not as tall as Miranda, but the fierce defiance in his eyes made him look larger than he was.

"I hate that man," he declared. "I won't let him hurt her … ever again."

Something about his anger and determination told her to take him seriously. In that moment, she saw the man he would grow up to be. Instead of the nine year old son of a widowed mother in an abusive relationship, she saw the foundation of a strong protector, the kind of man she wished her father was. "I'm with you, John, whatever you need." She leaned down and kissed his forehead, bringing a smile to his face, and a blush to his cheeks. She giggled at the sight.

John sighed. "There's something else I need to tell you."

"Something bad?"

"No … I don't know. I get headaches, and at night, I've seen my hands glow. I can move things sometimes too … with my mind."

Miranda lit up at his words. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"You can tell me anything," he replied.

"I can too. It's biotics. I was born with them; one day, you'll be able to do amazing things with that power. Me too; I'm still just learning to harness it. Just don't let anyone know, at least not until you're grown; they'll whisk you off to Jump Zero, and I'll never see you again."

"Promise," he replied. "I'd miss you too."

She kissed his cheek. "I have to go, but be strong. You can vid-call me anytime; I just got an omni-tool, so I can chat with you anywhere."

"Thanks, Miri. You're my angel, you know?"

 **2183 –** Commander John Shepard sat in his cabin aboard the SSV Normandy SR-1; the ship he had just hijacked with the help of Captain David Anderson. They were about to hit the Mu Relay and jump to Ilos, the fate of the galaxy resting on their shoulders, and all he could think about was that summer of 2162, when he had first met Miri. He still had a holo of her that she had given him for his birthday. The tall, gangly girl with the magnificent smile had captivated him from the moment he saw her in the window over two decades ago. But it was the promise of 2166 that burned in his mind as he looked at the holo of the then twelve year old Miri.

"If only I could see you … one last time before making the jump." He shook his head, kicking himself for not doing more to locate her after that fateful day twenty one years ago. He heard his door chime, distracting him from his reminiscing.

Ashley Williams entered, a look of … something other than mere friendship on her face. Shepard had been kind to her, and considered her a kindred spirit; kind of the little sister he never had. But she clearly had more on her mind than just friendship. He liked her a lot, but not the way she liked him. This would be difficult, but he had to be firm. He would keep his promise to Miri. Ashley and he could never be more than just friends. _Besides, it's against regs anyway_.

 **2185 –** "Miranda! Are you listening?" The Illusive Man's voice pulled her from her reverie. "This is of vital importance, Miranda," he continued. "But if you have something else on your mind, I'm always available to talk."

Now thirty five, Miranda had not thought about John Amell … or the promise they had made … in almost twenty years. The memories were pleasant, but they had distracted her from the mission at hand.

"I'm sorry," she said, shaking herself to alertness. "Just a fond memory … a reminder of the cost humanity has paid since the First Contact War … and of what we're fighting for."

"Appropriate," he replied, taking a sip of his bourbon, then lighting a cigarette. "Humanity faces the greatest challenge of our brief existence, and nobody knows it. Our very survival depends upon the outcome of this operation. I trust that you're up to the task."

"Always," she said resolutely. Another fond memory of her childhood friend came to her, one from when they were both in their teens and made a wishful promise to each other, prompting her to smile. _I'll find you one day_ , she thought, but she would not be deterred from her primary objective: finding Commander Shepard.


	2. Chapter 2: Back from the Dead

**Chapter 2 – Back from the Dead**

 **2185 –** The last thing he remembered was the Normandy breaking apart after he got Joker to an escape pod. He had blacked out as his damaged, oxygen leaking suit failed him in the vacuum of space. Then blackness … then … voices … one somehow familiar. He opened his eyes, seeing what looked like a hospital operating room.

"He's reacting to outside stimuli, showing an awareness of his surroundings," a male voice said from somewhere outside his field of vison. "My god, Miranda, I think he's waking up!"

As the man finished speaking, Shepard looked to his left and saw, as though in a dream, a beautiful woman walk into the room. His eyes followed her as she approached, and the man, a balding Caucasian, entered his field of vision.

"Damn it, Wilson, he's not ready yet. Give him the sedative." The woman's voice was familiar … Australian …

He helplessly looked up at her, desperately trying to see her eyes through the haze. _Could it be …?_ He reached toward her, prompting her to gently catch his wrist and look down at him.

"Shepard, don't try to move. Just lie still, try to stay calm." Her soothing voice worked to calm his rising anxiety, but as she leaned closer to him, he finally saw her eyes. _My God! It's her! Miri …_

"Heartrate's still climbing," the man said. "Brain activity is off the charts!" The monitoring equipment began beeping insistently … alarmingly. "Stats pushing into the red zone … it's not working!"

"Another dose … now!" The woman who he was certain was Miri was insistent, strong … just like he remembered her.

"Heartrate dropping," the man said as he administered another dose of the sedative. "Stats falling back into normal range." His voice was fading out, Shepard's vision was dimming.

The woman was now leaning over him again, this time, he could see her vividly. She was older than Miri … but her eyes … those ice blue eyes …

"Too close," the man added. "We almost lost him."

The woman looked perturbed and cast the man a disapproving glance. "I _told_ you your estimates were off. Run the numbers again." Then she looked back at down at Shepard. her eyes … full lips … and expression of … compassion? He could not be certain … he was probably dreaming … probably dead. His vision faded, the woman's face the last thing he saw as blackness engulfed him.

"Shepard, do you hear me?"

Still sleeping, Shepard heard the voice of a woman with an Australian accent as though through ether. Her urgency caused him to stir, and in doing so, he remembered the dream … realizing that it was not a dream … he really _had_ awakened, seeing the woman … Miranda.

"Get out of that bed now," she continued. "This facility is under attack."

He was now fully awake. The room was as he remembered it, only it was darker, and he was alone. His face felt tight, pained. He touched felt the skin of his cheeks, noting that there was deep scarring.

"Shepard, your scars aren't healed, but I need you to get moving. This facility is under attack," she said. _She must be monitoring me_ , he thought.

"There's a pistol in the locker on the other side of the room," she continued. "Hurry!"

Shepard slowly sat up, the act taking quite a bit of effort. How long was I out? He turned and stood, making is way to the locker, his stiff legs fighting him the whole way. Once at the locker, he found not only a pistol, but a suit of N7 heavy armor, both of which were brand new, and far superior to his old pistol and armor. The gun, however, was inoperable, and felt light in the grip.

Since she could see him, he figured she could hear him too. "This gun is missing pieces," he informed her.

"It's a med bay," she replied. "We'll get you a thermal clip from … damn it! Those canister by the door are about to blow!"

Shepard took cover, not catching the rest of her warning. The canisters blew, ripping the door from its frame.

"Someone's hacking security trying to kill you," she informed him. "Look for a thermal clip for your pistol!"

He did not know what a thermal clip was, but he went to the exit and found what looked like clip on the floor. He did not need to know what a thermal clip did to see how it went into the gun, and once he locked it into place, the pistol felt well balanced and properly weighted.

The mysterious Miranda kept in contact with him as he shot his way through wave after wave of security mechs that seemed bent on killing him. Along the way, he picked up a grenade launcher, which only added to his ability to take out even more mechs. In spite of feeling sore and achy all over, it felt good to be back in action, and Miranda's encouragement made him feel like he was back on the football team with a beautiful girl cheering him along. Something was definitely not right about this situation, but he felt that he deserved a bit of enjoyment.

He shot his way through wave after wave of mechs, but the woman's signal faded as he entered different portion of the base. He came upon a small substation, two mechs lying damaged on the floor, probably retreating here after being shot by him. Finishing them off, he turned to leave when he spied the active monitors. He found two files on him, one with a Miranda narrating it.

"It can't be," he said aloud. "But … I'm sure I saw her when I woke up. Along with armor and a pistol, he had been given an omni-tool, to which he quickly downloaded the files. "No time for this now," he added. Then he moved on.

Rounding the corner and coming up the stairs, he came upon a man embattled by numerous mechs. The man's armor bore the same insignia he recalled seeing on Miranda and Wilson, so he assumed him to be a friendly, and then jumped in to fight alongside him, taking out five mechs in rapid succession before his clip overheated and he was forced to duck for cover.

"Things must be worse than I thought if Miranda's got you running around," The operative said as he ducked behind the half wall. "I'll fill you in, but we better get you to the shuttle first."

"It's your station," Shepard replied. "I'll follow you."

They were about to leave when the operative's communicator sounded, the voice of … Wilson requesting help in D-wing. The operative was Jacob Taylor, and the biotic operative proved to be a skilled combatant. The two men worked well together, making their way to D-wing where they found Wilson, a balding Caucasian man. As soon as Shepard saw his face, he knew he did not trust the man. When Wilson gave Jacob several evasive answers to basic questions, and tried to pin the attack on Miranda, Shepard knew that it was Wilson who had hacked security. He kept his mouth shut, but kept an eye on Wilson as they made their way to the shuttles. They immediately encountered more mechs, which they took down in short order. Jacob must have sensed Shepard's unease with Wilson, though it was clear that he did not realize that Wilson was the sourse.

"Okay, we took em down, but this is getting tense," Jacob exclaimed. "Shepard, if I tell you who we work for, will you trust me?"

"This really isn't the time, Jacob," Wilson protested.

"We won't make it if he's expecting a shot in the back," Jacob countered.

"If you want to piss off the boss, it's your ass, Jacob." Wilson folded his arms smugly. Shepard was tempted to coldcock Wilson and drag him to the shuttles unconscious.

"The Lazarus Project, the program that rebuilt you," Jacob said to Shepard, ignoring Wilson, "It's funded and controlled by Cerberus."

Shepard had taken down a number of Cerberus bases during his hunt for Saren. The organization had captured and killed Admiral Kohoku, performed experiments on unwilling Alliance marines, and had experimented with Rachni.

"I'd be suspicious too," Jacob continued. "But right now, we need to work together. I thought you deserved to know what's what. Once we're off the station, we'll take you to the Illusive Man. He'll explain everything. I promise."

"I don't care what they did or what you say," Shepard snapped. "I'm not working with terrorists."

They fought their way through the rest of the mechs in silence, Shepard coming upon some terminals that had more information on his rebuilding … apparently he had been clinically dead after the breaking apart of the Normandy … and downloaded the files to his omni tool. He kept an eye on Wilson the entire time, though he still felt that he could trust Jacob. At long last, they arrived at the shuttle bay doors. Wilson ran to the doors, ahead of them, unhindered by armor. Shepard just let him. Better to have a potential problem in front of him … right where he could fire at it.

"Come on, we're almost at the …" Wilson began as he entered the code into the door. Wilson got the surprise of his life when the door opened to reveal Miranda less than a meter from the doorway. "Miranda! But you were …"

She saw Wilson and her expression hardened. She immediately raised a pistol and shot him in the throat.

"Dead?" Her voice was thick with anger, her face a mask of controlled rage.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jacob was clearly shocked as he ran through the door to look down at Wilson's corpse.

"My job," she said calmly, her expression relaxing. "Wilson betrayed us all."

Shepard holstered his weapon. "I had a feeling he was just waiting to shoot me in the back," he said, backing up Miranda's actions.

"Good instincts," she said approvingly. Then she looked at Jacob. "Some people are far too trusting."

"So what's our next step?" It was a silly question, but he wanted to hear her voice again … to be sure that it was her. She looked … beautiful. Miri had still been a gawky, gangly girl when she was a teen, and was just starting to grow out of that stage when they had parted, but this woman was a picture of feminine perfection. But she had Miri's eyes … and voice. _It has to be her_ , he thought. _But why is she working for Cerberus?_ He had to know. From that point, he decided that he would go along with them and see where this led … and find out the truth about Miranda.

The shuttle ride was awkward. Miranda got right down to business, and Jacob got right down to questioning her line of thought.

"Before you meet with the Illusive Man, we need to ask a few questions to evaluate your condition."

"Come on, Miranda," Jacob countered. "More tests? Shepard took down those mechs without any trouble. That has to be good enough."

"It's been two years since the attack," Miranda explained. "The Illusive Man needs to know that Shepard's memory and personality are intact. Ask the questions."

"Did you say two years?" Shepard was floored. Two years of his life was just gone. Two years … a lot can happen in two years. "I've been gone that long?"

"Two years and twelve days," Jacob confirmed. "And you were on an operating table for most of it."

"The sooner we start, the sooner we can be done," Miranda interjected. "Start with personal history."

"Okay," Jacob finally said, capitulating. "Records show that your parents served with the fleet …"

Shepard questioned the effectiveness of the test; these questions were all things that were publicly known; his being living on ships as a teen, his winning a medal for his actions during the blitz, who had become the first human councilor … all easy to find. Only the question about his reasoning behind the decision that resulted in Kaiden's death on Virmire was about anything classified, and even that was probably out there to find for those skilled, savvy, and determined enough. He also noticed that there was no questions about his life prior to his mother's commission with the fleet … an event that radically changes his life. But it was not the questions that interested him.

He took careful note of Miranda's demeanor and behavior. She was nothing like the Miri he remembered; that girl had been full of life, full of hope, though her life had been overshadowed by her father's emotional abuse. This woman was jaded, cynical, and had more walls around her heart than Fort Knox. There was an undercurrent of anger in Miranda's voice as well, no matter what she said, or who she said it to. But it was the small things that gave her away. The way she sat, facial tics, the way she moved; these were things that people established from a young age, and did unconsciously … and Miranda did them all _exactly_ as Miri had.

"Shepard," Miranda said, "think back to the Citadel, after the Alliance saved the Destiny Ascension, and you killed Saren. What happened next?" Her eyes had opened wider, her expression one of hopeful anticipation. He imagined that with the work she had put into saving him, she was very anxious to know that her efforts had been successful. He answered the question, saying that Anderson had become the councilor, and Miranda and Jacob began discussing the merit of their memory test. Shepard tuned them out once it was clear that they were just rambling, and contemplated the fact that it had been two years. Two years … he would have gladly given up two years of his life just to see Miri again … though as he looked at Miranda, he thought that perhaps he had. He closed his eyes and began remembering the girl he had loved all those years ago.

Miri and John had cycled to the large park two neighborhoods over. It had a botanical garden with a fairly challenging maze of hedges, but the couple had no problem navigating it. Miri was incredibly smart, while John was raised by a marine. Orienteering and direction sense had been ingrained in him from a young age. There were a number of dead ends in the maze, and they had picked out the one that took them the furthest from the path, and used it as their secret hideaway.

John was now twelve, and followed Miri wherever she went, entranced by the older girl. Miri had gotten very tall, and the rest of her figure had not yet caught up, making her a tall, gangly girl, but to John, she was the most beautiful creature on Earth. He had known Miri for four years now, and she had gone from being an older playmate to being the object of his affection. They often came here to talk … to chat about things that neither of them could talk to anyone else about … and to escape his mother's boyfriend and Miri's emotionally abusive father.

"You bring the food?" Miri sat down on the grass, knowing that the answer was yes.

"Of course," he replied eagerly, removing the lunches from his backpack and joining her on the grass. "And something extra!"

"Oh?" She sat forward, resting her elbow on her knee and resting her chin in her palm.

He produced two chocolate bars. "For you, my dear," he said as romantically as he could, her eyes widening at the sight of the treat. John knew that her father would not allow her to have such things, even refusing to allow her to go trick or treating on Halloween. Miranda tried her best to sneak the occasional treat past him, but Doctor Lawson seemed to have radar for the stuff.

"Oh, John!" She took the candy bar and held it to her chest as though it were a locket with her mother's photo. "You always know just the thing to brighten my day. You're the best friend a girl could have."

"You're my best friend too," he replied. "I can't imagine life without you, you know."

"Me neither," she said, taking a bite out of her candy bar, and then savoring the taste of the rich chocolate. "Mmmm, this is positively sinful. You know, you're my best friend, don't you?"

"Yeah," he said, a smile on his face. "Yeah, I do. You're like the only person I hang out with when I'm not in school for the most part. I ditched football to be with you today. I might get cut from the team, but who cares? I'm with the most beautiful girl in the world!"

"Say that again," she said, a very intent look on her face.

"I'm with the most beautiful girl in the world."

Miri reached over and touched his cheek. "I never feel beautiful … except when I'm with you." That was when she leaned in and kissed him. It was not a peck on the cheek; she had done that before. No, this as an actual kiss, her lips touching his. "Thank you," she said.

"Can I tell you something, Miri?"

"Of course, John, whatever you'd like."

"I love you."

Shepard stepped into the room expecting to meet with the Illusive Man. Instead, he found an empty room, devoid of any furniture whatsoever; only a QEC pad in the center. He shook his head. _I guess it was too much to expect this coward to meet me in person_. He stepped onto the pad and the QEC activated, changing the scenery around him. This was the first time he had ever used an interface like this, and the initial change was jarring.

Now, he stood in a large room, a panoramic window offering the spectacular vista of a red giant star. Seated before this magnificent view was a man in a chair, a lit cigarette in his right hand, and a glass of liquor in his left. The entire presentation was designed to impress, to intimidate the viewer. The Illusive Man presided over the meeting like a CEO presiding over a board meeting of inferiors. This was a far cry from his meetings with Admiral Hackett and Captain Anderson, where Shepard was part of a team, and Hackett was a first among equals.

"Commander Shepard." The Illusive Man's voice was low, not particularly deep, and a bit breathy, but the tone carried with it the weight of authority, as though he were condescending to speak. Shepard instantly disliked him.

"Illusive Man," Shepard said tersely, shifting his weight to his left and crossing his arms. "I thought we'd be meeting face to face."

"A necessary precaution," the Illusive Man replied. "Not unusual for people who know what you and I know."

"And what exactly is it that you and I know?"

"That our place in the galaxy is more fragile than we'd like to think." The Illusive Man paused to take a deep drag on his cigarette. "That one man – one very specific man – might be all that stands between humanity and the greatest threat of our brief existence."

"The Reapers," Shepard said instinctively.

"Good to see your memory's still intact. How are you feeling?"

"You need to earn the right to ask me those kind of questions." Shepard had no interest in getting chatty with this man. If ever there was a devil, a Satan, the Illusive Man was it, and Shepard had no intention of cozying up to him.

"Cerberus isn't as evil as you believe," the Illusive Man countered. "You and I are on the same side; we just have different methods."

 _And the methods are just as important as the end goal_ , he thought. "Cut to the chase; what are the Reapers doing that made you decide to bring me back?"

The Illusive Man stood and walked closer to what must have been Shepard's image at the other end of the QEC, though to Shepard, it appeared as though the Illusive Man were walking right up to him. "We're at war. No one wants to admit it, but humanity is under attack. While you've been sleeping, entire colonies have been disappearing. Human colonies." The Illusive Man's image was less than a meter from Shepard now. "We believe it's someone working for the Reapers, just as Saren and the Geth aided Sovereign. You've seen it yourself. You bested all of them. That's just one we chose you."

"If what you say is true … if the Reapers are behind this, I'd consider helping you."

"I'd be disappointed if you accepted any of this without seeing for yourself." The man turned and began walking back to his chair. "I have a shuttle ready to take you to Freedom's Progress, the latest colony to be abducted. If you don't find the evidence we're both looking for, we can part ways." He turned and sat down in the chair, now facing Shepard from his impressive vantage. "But first, go to Freedom's Progress. Find any clues you can. Who's abducting the colonies? Do they have any connection to the Reapers? I brought you back. It's up to you to do the rest."

Shepard had just exited his meeting with the Illusive Man. Hiding behind holographic communications, the Illusive Man had shared the reason for Shepard's revival: The Reapers. That was enough to keep Shepard playing along, even without Miranda. He could still hardly believe that it had been two years since the Normandy was destroyed. But standing outside of the meeting room was the most perfect woman he had ever seen: Miranda Lawson. The last name practically made it a sure bet that she was his Miri, but stranger things than two people sharing a name had happened.

"The Illusive Man is very impressed with you," said Miranda, an undertone of doubt in her voice. "I'm eager to see if you can live up to his expectations on this mission."

"I never got a chance to say how much I appreciate what the Lazarus Project did for me," said Shepard, grateful to be alive, even if the circumstances were less than ideal. And Miranda was apparently the person to thank.

"I just hope it was worth it. A lot of people lost their lives on that station."

"With all that time you spent bringing me back," said Shepard, "you don't seem to like me very much."

"I have the utmost respect for your abilities, Shepard," replied the beautiful, but ice cold woman who stood before him. "It's your motivations that concern me. I believe in what Cerberus stands for. Only time will tell if you're going to be an asset, or a liability to our cause."

"Tell me about yourself, Miranda," said Shepard, changing the subject, desperately trying to get a bead on a woman who was attached to the mission that he was about to embark upon, and whom he might have to work with for the foreseeable future. Also, as the face of Cerberus, he wanted to know her as thoroughly as he could. And the question still nagged at him; _is this my Miri?_

"Worried about my qualifications?" she asked tersely. "I can shoot a mech's head off from 100 meters away or just as easily crush it with my biotics; take your pick."

Shepard shook his head. He had been cordial, even friendly with the woman from the first moment they had met. He would be lying if he said that he did not give her deference because of who he thought she might be, but he had treated Jacob the same. He had been able to establish a bit of a rapport with Jacob; perhaps joining him in a firefight against the mechs had helped, but try as he might, he could not make any kind of connection with Miranda.

"It's obvious you're not interested in talking," he said in frustration.

"I'm not here to make friends," she retorted. "We've got an assignment. We can talk about it, or we can do it."

Miranda turned away, abruptly ending the conversation. Shepard walked away, shaking his head. _Even if she is my Miri, if she's going to act like this on the mission, she's going to be very difficult to work with._

Miranda watched Shepard walk away and strike up a conversation with Jacob. She felt bad that she had to be so harsh with him, but she had to establish that she was not just some piece of eye candy. So far, Shepard had proven to be amiable enough, but so had countless other men in the past. All of them had quickly shown their true colors, however. They were insecure, jealous little men who felt threatened by Miranda's ability and power. She had learned to deal with them long ago, and Shepard would be no exception _… but what if he's on the level?_ Something about him was different. Miranda never lowered her guard around anyone; she had learnt that lesson long ago, but something about Shepard told her she could trust him. He reminded her of another John, a John she had not seen in roughly two decades.

 _That_ John had seemingly disappeared from the face of the galaxy, and she was certain that he thought the same about her; her father had seen to that. She was only sixteen when they had made that promise to each other, and it was a promise she had kept. She chided herself for being so sentimental over a promise she had made to a twelve year old boy when she was in high school, and she could not even begin to count how many potential relationships keeping that promise had cost her. But unlike her father, she kept her promises. Miranda often wondered if John Amell had been as true to their promise as she had been, but she always put the thought from her mind.

There were things she felt that she was better off not knowing, and if he had broken their promise, she never wanted to know. _Let that one piece of my childhood remain pure and innocent_ , she thought. _My father took everything from me, but I won't let him take that too. John Amell is the one man I can always love unconditionally … and sometimes loneliness is better than the alternative._


	3. Chapter 3: Back in Action!

**Chapter 3 – Back in Action!**

Shepard engaged in some light conversation with Jacob before they boarded the shuttle to go to Freedom's Progress. Jacob seemed like a pleasant enough man, but also a bitter man; based on what Jacob said, he had served in the Alliance Navy and had seen the bureaucracy trump good sense and paperwork mire good men and women. Political correctness and career concerns outweighed military readiness, and nobody wanted to do anything for fear of ending up with egg on their face. Shepard had seen his share of this himself, and it was amplified greatly once the Council was involved. It was the very reason he had been forced to conspire with Captain Anderson and steal the Normandy in order to go to Ilos. He had saved the Council, Humanity, and the galaxy, but he had also deep sixed any prospect of advancement. Udina made sure of that. He was "promoted to captain" while simultaneously being busted down to lieutenant, which netted him his original rank of commander.

Jacob revealed that he had been hopeful after Shepard and his team stopped Sovereign, but once Shepard was gone, the Alliance and the Council had backslidden on everything. Or so Jacob said; so far, the only thing he had to go on was the word of the Illusive Man, Miranda and Jacob, and he did not trust the Illusive Man one iota. Unfortunately, Miranda was not very forthcoming at this juncture. As he pondered these things, Miranda spoke to him.

"We should be there shortly, Shepard. The Illusive Man put us under your command. Do you have any orders?"

It really grated on him that she called him, "Shepard." _John_ , he thought with frustration. _You used to call me John_. Possible prior associations aside, he also held a rank, and even putting that aside, calling someone by their last name so casually was just rude; she could address him as 'sir' or just mister. He noticed that Jacob was picking up the habit as well, though when Jacob did it, it did not bother him quite as much. _Orders … before orders can be given, information needs to be shared._

"What did you find at the other colonies?" he asked, feeling that this was important to know.

"Nothing," said Jacob with frustration. "No signs of attack, no corpses, not even a trace of unusual genetic material to give us a clue. They just … disappeared. We've got no target to go after."

"What makes you think this investigation will turn up anything new?" He really hoped that Jacob or Miranda had a concrete answer, but it was not to be.

"At other colonies, official investigators got there first," replied the former Alliance soldier. "Sometimes looters or salvage teams as well. We're hoping to be the first ones there this time; maybe find clues before somebody else disturbs the scene."

 _Great_ , he thought; _the 'it'll be different because we'll be there first' attitude._ In fairness, getting there first did often make a crucial difference in an investigation, but still, they had nothing concrete, no clues whatsoever.

"Our first priority is to look for survivors," declared Shepard.

"That isn't likely, Commander," interjected Miranda. "All of the other colonies have been empty."

 _Yeah, genius; tell me something we don't already know_ , he thought, shaking his head. _And thanks for using my rank._

"Still, it would be nice to find something other than a ghost town," said Jacob hopefully.

 **Freedom's Progress:**

Now that they were in the field, he took a new Avenger assault rifle from the shuttle's weapons rack. He found it very disturbing how much brand new Alliance equipment Cerberus had … or was able to counterfeit; he unsure of which, or which was worse. Then the three of them hit the ground running. Whatever tension there was between Miranda and himself seemed to evaporate, much to his relief, as soon as they were in the field. Miranda took his directives, converting them into action with stunning efficiency, and without question or complaint.

"Looks like everyone just got up and left right in the middle of dinner," Jacob observed as they went through the buildings and saw partially eaten meals and things left out as though people left … or were whisked away … abruptly. It reminded him of Ashley's talk about the Rapture. Except that this harbinger of a second coming was _not_ that of Christ's.

"Strange," Miranda agreed. "No bodies; no structural damage; no signs of battle."

In fact, it was eerily quiet.

As they penetrated deeper into the colony, they began encountering security mechs.

"Fenris mechs," Jacob observed when they encountered the first batch of quadrupedal mech.

"Strange," Miranda noted. "Security systems were disabled at the other colonies."

While they were probably not connected to the disappearances, Shepard did find them helpful to get a bead on Miranda. The trio worked well together, but Miranda and Shepard practically fell into perfect sync with each other, almost as if they had worked together for years. Shepard also noticed that she displayed a broad array of skills, from weapons, to hand to hand, to biotics, to tech abilities normally associated with combat engineers. Certainly, she had not been exaggerating when she had given him her appraisal of her own abilities.

"Those mechs shouldn't have been hostile," Jacob spat as they finished off the last wave. "They should've recognized us as human."

"Someone reprogrammed to attack on sight," Miranda corrected. "We're not alone here."

They encountered mechs in several buildings until the mission finally bore fruit and offered clues; big ones.

They entered a building, and instead of encountering mechs, they encountered a group of Quarians, all of whom jumped up and pointed their weapons at Shepard and his team.

"Stop right there," one of them shouted, advancing as Shepard and his team brought their own weapons to bear.

His adrenaline was pumping, and Shepard was about to annihilate the Quarians when one, he recognized immediately ran to intercede: Tali.

"Prazza, you said you'd let me handle this,"Tali shouted, hoping to avoid a bloodbath. She stepped in between Prazza and the two Cerberus operatives led by an N7 marine, holding out a hand to halt them. Suddenly, she recognized the marine. "Wait … Shepard?"

"I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives," Prazza shouted.

"Put those weapons down," she shouted back to Prazza and the others, knowing that if it really was Shepard, they were as good as dead once the fighting started. "Shepard? Is that … your alive?"

"Remember when I gave you that Geth data, Tali?" Shepard seemed to relax, lowering his weapon, though none of the others did … on either side. Not that it would have mattered. "Did it help you complete your pilgrimage?"

"Yes … it did. Prazza, weapons down," she exclaimed, now fearing for her fellow Quarian's lives if they did not. "This is definitely Commander Shepard."

"Why is your old commander working for Cerberus?" Prazza sounded dubious, but he holstered his pistol, as did the others.

"I don't know," she replied hesitantly. "Maybe we should ask."

"I nearly died, Tali," Shepard explained. "Cerberus spent two years rebuilding me; they want me to investigate attacks on human colonies.

"Likely story," Prazza protested, folding his arms smugly. "No organization would commit so many resources to bring back one soldier."

"You haven't seen Shepard in action, Prazza. Trust me; it was money well spent!"

 _Finally, some sanity from the Quarians_ , Miranda thought. She also took note of how much stock the fairly famous Tali had placed in Shepard.

"You'll pardon us for not taking you at your word, Cerberus." This Prazza seemed determined to press the issue.

"We're well within our rights to investigate attacks on a human colony," Miranda countered. "I'd like to know what the Quarians are doing here."

"One of our people was here on pilgrimage," Tali explained. "His name was Veetor. We came to find him."

"Everyone else is dead," Shepard observed. "What makes you think that Veetor survived?"

"We saw him when we landed," Prazza replied dismissively.

"You saw him?" Jacob asked, "Then why isn't he with you already?"

"Veetor was injured and he was always, ah, nervous…" Tali began.

"She means that he's unstable,"Prazza corrected, cutting her off. "Combine that with damage to his suit's CO2 scrubbers, and an infection from an open air exposure, and he's likely delirious."

"When he saw us landing, he hid in a warehouse on the far side of town," Tali explained. "We suspect he also programmed the mechs to attack anything that moved."

"Veetor's the only one who can tell us what happened here," Shepard declared. "We should work together to find him."

"Good idea," Tali agreed. "You'll need two teams to get past the drones anyway."

So it was that Tali agreed to work with Shepard, much to the distress of the rest of her team, who continually reminded her that Cerberus was an enemy. Most of Tali's team died because they broke with the plan and were ambushed by mechs, mechs programed by Veetor to attack anything that moved. Shepard and his two teammates took out the mechs fairly easily, causing Shepard to seriously question the value of whatever training the Quarian military provided, and then found Veetor, locked away in the security station. _That explains the mechs_ , he thought.

"Monsters coming back," Veetor mumbled. "Mechs will protect … safe from swarms. Have to hide. No monsters. No swarms. No, no, no, no, no."

"Veetor," Shepard said.

"No Veetor," replied the delirious Quarian. "Not here. Swarms can't find. Monsters coming. Need to hide."

The man seemed trapped in some kind of fantasy until Shepard used his omni-tool to interrupt the various security screens. He snapped out of his trance and turned around, standing, his body language indicating surprise.

"You're … not one of them. You're human. They … they didn't find you?"

"Who didn't find us?" Miranda asked.

"The … the monsters," Veetor said as if it were obvious. "The swarms. They took everyone."

"Why didn't the colonists fight back, Veetor?" Shepard knew he would not like the answer, but he had to ask. "What happened?"

"You don't know … you didn't see. But I see everything." Veetor then played the vid.

"Looks like security footage," Miranda observed. "He must have pieced it together manually."

On the screen, thousands of insects buzzed around, the colonists standing still. Suddenly, an insectoid bipedal alien walked across the screen pushing a coffin sized pod, a human woman's face showing in the pod's window.

"What the hell is that?" Jacob's question echoed Shepard's own.

Miranda's mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. For the first time, Shepard saw her emotional armor crack. Fear replaced her confidence. "My god," she exclaimed. "I think it's a Collector!"

"Is that some kind of alien?" Shepard realized how stupid the question sounded after he asked; obviously, it was. But Jacob answered with the information Shepard was after.

"They're a species from somewhere beyond the Omega 4 Relay. Only a few people have ever seen one in person."

"They usually work through intermediaries, like slavers or hired mercenaries," Miranda explained, her composure regained. "If they're working with the Reapers somehow, it could explain what happened to the colonies."

"The Collectors have advanced technology," Jacob added. "They could have a weapon that disables an entire settlement at once."

"The seeker swarms," Veetor explained. "No one can hide. The seekers find you. Freeze you. Then the monsters take you away."

That explained the insects flying around in the picture, though more than likely, they were miniature drones. The swarms of bug-like robots had immobilized the entire colony, allowing the Collectors to just collect the colonists at their leisure. Now all those partially finished meals and unfinished tasks made sense.

"What happened next?" Shepard asked.

"The monsters took the people onto the ship and then they left," the Quarian replied. "The ship flew away, but they'll be back for me. No one escapes!"

"I think that's probably all we're getting out of him, Commander," Jacob observed.

"We appreciate what you told us," Shepard said. "You were very helpful."

"I studied them," Veetor offered. "The swarms, the monsters. I recorded them with my omni tool. Lots of readings … electromagnetic, dark energy."

He and Miranda turned to each other at this.

"We need to get this data to the Illusive Man," she said. Then she began issuing commands. "Grab the Quarian and call the shuttle to come pick us up."

Tali walked in right at that moment. "What?" Tali was livid. "Veetor is injured! He needs treatment, not an interrogation!"

 _Oh, Miranda, you should have just let me do my job and call this one_ , he thought.

"We won't hurt him," Jacob assured. "We just need to see if he knows anything else. He'll be returned unharmed."

"Your people betrayed us once already," Miranda added. "If we give him to you, we'll never get the intel we need."

"Prazza was an idiot, and he and his men paid for it," Tali countered. "You're welcome to take Veetor's omni tool data, but please; just let me take him!"

"You don't have to take Veetor and go," Shepard offered, hoping to get Tali on his team so that he could work with at least one person he could trust. "We could work together, just like old times."

"I want to, but I can't," she replied. "I've got a mission of my own. It's too important for me to abandon, even for you." Then her voice softened. "When it's over … and I'm still alive, we'll see what happens."

He turned back to Miranda. "Veetor's traumatized, and he needs medical care. Tali will give us the omni tool data and take him to the flotilla."

Shepard's authority would now be tested for the first time. To his surprise, Miranda demurred. In fact, he had to admit that she had been cooperative and very helpful throughout the mission. It also amazed him how well they worked in the field together. She reminded him a lot of Kaiden with regards to her abilities and skill set, though Kaiden was a soldier, not an operative. Still, he did find that she complemented him well in the field, much more so than the biotic Jacob, who was also like Kaiden in his own way, but not nearly as capable as the late lieutenant.

 **On the shuttle …**

The ride back on the shuttle was mostly spent in silence, which was fine with Shepard. He had a lot on his mind, especially after seeing Tali. The first of his old team to reconnect with him, he was reminded of just how much he had lost. Friends … family … and any sense of belonging that he once had … all were gone. He leaned his head back against the padding behind the seat and closed his eyes, resting after his first time in the field in over two years, having to be content with today's job well done.

Miranda looked at the man across from her … the man she had spent the past two years rebuilding. Today, he proved her success beyond even her own estimations, and those were high. She was amazed at how well they worked together, how natural it felt to be at his side on the mission. Jacob was always a good partner to have on any mission, but Jacob was really just backup; he had never been Miranda's caliber. Shepard, on the other hand, was her equal. Though her biotics were certainly stronger; she was an L5 to his L3, Shepard's physicality in combat was beyond her, and Miranda could fight with the best. Before he had dozed off, though, he had looked at her, and something was … familiar. She could not put her finger on it, and soon, put it from her mind, taking the opportunity to rest herself.

 **2166:**

"You love me?" Miri was a bit taken aback by his words. _He's twelve; what does he know of love?_

"Yes," he said, clearly hurt by her surprise. "I have for … well forever."

"For forever?" _He certainly isn't backing down, that's for sure_ , she thought. Then she laughed to herself. _And I'm the one who kissed him in the first place_.

"Since we met," he qualified. "I don't believe in leaving things unsaid, Miri. When my father was still alive, my parents always shared their feelings. When he died, my mother knew without a doubt that he loved her, and that he died knowing she loved him. Nothing was left unsaid, Miri. I love you."

Once again, the child vanished and she saw in him the man he would grow to become. In that moment, she realized that she loved him too. "I believe you do, John," she conceded. "And truth be told … I love you too." She laughed, shaking her head. "I can't believe I just said it, but there it is." She leaned in and kissed him again, this time more fervently. "We dare not go further than this, though," she said sternly.

"We don't have to, Miri. I'll wait for you. As long as it takes."

"You know, the boys in high school could learn a thing or two about how to treat women from you."

"Love is about more than just physical affection, Miri," he said with conviction. "I know I'm young, but I've seen real love … only to see my mom settle for that asshole. He has no idea what love is."

"Men like that asshole are probably far more common than men like your father," Miri replied. "Or you. Every day, I see girls in school go for that kind of guy. Never understood the appeal. I'll wait for you too, John." She kissed him again. "I can see the man you'll grow into … and that man is going to change the galaxy."

 **Back on the station …**

"Shepard, good work on Freedom's Progress." The Illusive Man praised Shepard for the success of Freedom's Progress, the first real break they had had so far. "The Quarians forwarded their findings from Veetor's debriefing. No new data, but it's a surprising olive branch, given our history. You and I have different methods, but I can't argue with your results."

"You ever think about playing nice once in a while?"

"Diplomacy is great when it works," he replied, "But difficult when everyone already perceives you as a threat. But more importantly, you confirmed the Collectors are behind the abductions."

"Tell me what you know about these Collectors."

"They periodically travel to the Terminus Systems, looking to gather seemingly unimportant items or specimens, usually in exchange for their technology. When their transactions are complete, they disappear as quickly as they arrived, back through the unmapped Omega-4 Relay. Until now, we've had no evidence of direct aggression by the the Collectors."

"The Collectors are definitely a human enemy, but how do we know that there's a connection to the Reapers?"

"Their focus shifted to humanity only after you and the human fleet destroyed Sovereign," the Illusive Man replied. "The abductions are related, even if the Alliance and the Council refuse to believe it. I won't wait until the Reapers are on the march. We need to take the fight to them."

Shepard knew the urgency of dealing with this, much as he hated to admit it. "I hate waiting, but I'll need a team … a good one."

"I've already compiled a list of soldiers, scientists, and mercenaries," the Illusive Man offered. "You'll get dossiers on the best of them. Finding them and convincing them to work with you could be challenging, but you're a natural leader. I'll continue to track the Collectors. When they make their appearance, I'll notify you and your team. Be ready."

"I'm still a Spectre," Shepard added. "Maybe I can get the Council to help out."

"If you think you can convince them, by all means," the man replied. "Just remember, you've been gone a long time. Things have changed."

"You worry about the Collectors," Shepard ordered. "I'll make sure my team is ready."

The Illusive Man took a long drag on his cigarette. "Good. Two things before you go. First, head to Omega, and find Mordin Solus. He's a brilliant Salarian scientist. Our intelligence suggests he may know how to counteract the Collector's paralyzing seeker swarms."

"Sounds good," Shepard agree. "What else?"

"I've found a pilot I think you might like. I hear he's one of the best; someone you can trust."

"Hey, Commander," came a familiar voice from behind him. "Just like old times, huh?"

Shepard spun around, only to see Joker standing there, wearing a Cerberus BDU. "Joker!"

 **A new Beginning …**

"I can't believe it's you, Joker," Shepard exclaimed.

"Look who's talking," Joker replied as they left the debriefing room. "I saw you get spaced!"

"Got lucky … with a lot of strings attached." Shepard shook his head, still shocked to see Joker in a Cerberus uniform. "How'd you get here?"

"It all fell apart without you, Commander." Joker led him up the stairs and out to the hangar. "Everything you stirred up, the Council just wanted it gone. The team was broken up, record's sealed, and I was grounded. The Alliance took away the one thing that mattered to me. Hell yeah, I joined Cerberus."

"You really trust the Illusive Man?" They now stood at the bay windows overlooking the hangar, the same place that he and Miranda had had their tense conversation only days ago. Joker's words really drove home the points made by the Illusive Man and Jacob regarding the Alliance and Council backsliding. No, it was worse; it was a betrayal of humanity itself.

"Well, I don't trust anybody that makes more than I do," Joker clarified. "But they aren't all bad. They saved your life … let me fly … and there's this." The floodlights turned on at Joker's command, illuminating a ship … but not just any ship. "They only told me last night."

Shepard turned and looked out the window, and suddenly knew how a father felt when he saw his newborn child. It was the SR-2, the rumored successor to the old Normandy SR-1. And it was a beautiful sight. The ship was stunning, and an improvement over the SR-1 in every conceivable way, but Shepard had to wonder how they had managed to pull it off; he had seen the specs for the SR-2 two years ago, and it was in secret development. How did Cerberus reproduce it line for line and bolt for bolt?

"It's good to be home, huh, Commander?"

"I guess we'll have to give her a name," Shepard said, still taking in the sight.

 **Embarking at Last**

Miranda reported to the SR-2 the following morning, walking with Shepard and Jacob. She was surprised to see that during the night, a last minute update had been made; the ship now bore the name, "Normandy." She smiled in spite of herself, especially when she saw Shepard himself beaming as he looked at the new ship. And what a beautiful ship she was! She noticed Shepard's pace quicken as they got closer, and halfway expected him to break into an all-out run. Shepard maintained decorum, however, but it reminded her so much of her John, causing her to giggle. Shepard did not notice, but Jacob did.

"I see you looking," the operative noted, smiling at her.

"Stop it," she hissed. "He'll hear you!"

But he did not. Shepard was wide eyed, entranced by the new ship, with a new crew. As they strode towards the CIC, she could see that Shepard was taking it in … making himself at home.

"Welcome aboard the new Normandy, Commander," Jacob said as they stood at the edge of the CIC, Shepard surveying it, and finally stepping down the ramp and into the CIC itself, completely absorbed by the new ship.

"I've been looking over the dossiers," Miranda said, desperately trying to take her mind off of how attracted she was finding him. "I recommend starting by acquiring Mordin Solus, the Salarian professor on Omega. We know the Collectors use some type of advanced technology to immobilize their victims. We'll need him to develop a countermeasure to protect us."

"Without that countermeasure, we'll be helpless if we ever run into the Collectors," Shepard agreed readily, as though he, Miranda, and Jacob were old squadmates. Only when Edi, the ship's new AI, addressed him did Shepard break out of his euphoria.

"Acquiring Professor Solus seems like the logical place to start," said Edi's synthesized voice.

"Who are you?" Shepard knew instantly what he was dealing with, Miranda could tell.

"I am the Normandy's artificial intelligence," Edi said, her holographic avatar appearing at the head of the CIC interface. "The crew like to refer to me as Edi."

But even Edi did not dampen Shepard's enthusiasm, and he surprised Miranda when he replied far more diplomatically than she would have expected.

"Helmsmen aren't happy when someone takes control of the ship away from them … especially Joker."

"I do not helm the ship," Edi replied. "Mister Moreau's talents will not go to waste. During combat, I operate the electronic warfare, and cyber warfare suites. Beyond that, I cannot interface with the ship's systems. I observe and offer analysis and advice. Nothing more." With that, Edi's avatar blinked out.

"I'm guessing it takes more than just the three of us plus Joker to run this ship," Shepard observed.

"The Normandy has a full crew," Miranda said. "They're at their stations awaiting your orders.

"Final preparations for take-off are complete, Commander," came Joker's voice over the intercom, interrupting them. "When you're ready to go, just pick a destination from the galaxy map in the CIC, and I'll plot a course."

"Jacob and I should return to our posts," Miranda said. "Come find us if you have any questions." With that, she turned and left the CIC briskly. _I need to put some distance between us_ , she thought. _Have to put him from my mind! Have to keep my promise!_

 **Shepard's Cabin**

Seeing Joker and Doctor Chakwas again made Shepard feel a lot better about this mission than he had at the outset, but it was still Miranda who was on his mind. She and Jacob had shown him around the new Normandy, and introduced him to the crew, but now that the excitement was over and the ship was careening to Omega, he found himself in his cabin contemplating the puzzle of the confident lady who served as his first officer.

Was she Miri? He was almost sure that Miri had grown up to be Miranda Lawson, but what had happened to her to bring her to Cerberus? And if Miranda really was Miri, she clearly had not connected John Shepard to the John of her youth. Why? With her resources, she should have already known that John Shepard was John Amell, the name change occurring after his mother finally ditched her abusive boyfriend. Granted, that happened after he and Miri had parted, but still; it was hardly classified, or even obscure.

Then there was the promise. It was a promise made by a boy of twelve and a girl of sixteen. He had, perhaps even foolishly, kept that promise. It had hurt his social life, to be sure, and created a bit of confusion in the minds of some close friends. Even his mother did not understand why as an adult, he held himself to such a ridiculous promise. His answer was always the same: "I will find her … or she will find me. And then it will have been worth it."

Had they found each other at along last? _Only one way to find out_ , he thought, as he stood abruptly and headed to the lift. _If I'm going to figure this out, I need to talk to her. And as her CO, I can make that happen whether she likes it or not._

 **Miranda's Cabin**

Miranda had put on her cheerful face and was cooperative on the Freedom's Progress mission. Shepard seemed surprised that she never questioned any of his directives, not even when he ordered Veetor be allowed to go back with the Quarians. In fact, she could not help but notice that they worked quite well together, especially when the gunfire erupted. Though she had disagreed with Shepard's preoccupation with survivors twice now, she had to admit that she found it refreshing to see that he really did behave the way the way he had been portrayed in the vids and news reports.

Of course, this worried her too; could he make the sacrifices that would be needed in the fight against the Reapers? His willingness to give the Quarians what they wanted would have really bothered her had Tali not been part of the team that took down Sovereign. And it was hard to fault his read on the situation when the Quarians actually forwarded Veetor's omni-tool data to Cerberus.

Miranda Lawson had spent the last two years of her life rebuilding Commander Shepard from the ground up. The process had not been without its challenges, and the costs were astronomical, and that was not including the building of the Normandy SR-2, developing the Enhanced Defense Intelligence, or the costs of running the crew. And the process itself was seemingly impossible at times; practically everything that could go wrong did, right down to Wilson selling Cerberus out and her nearly dying. But she had succeeded. And when Shepard arrived at the shuttle pad on the doomed station, her heart skipped a beat at the sight of him. Miranda was as cynical as you could be, and was never impressed by looks or charisma. And yet, when the man she had spent the last two years rebuilding stepped through the door, she was momentarily caught up in the moment, like Cinderella meeting Prince Charming.

And that had prompted her to put a lot of emotional distance between herself and Shepard. There was a promise made long ago, a promise that she intended to keep. To that end, she had been rude and disrespectful to him prior to the Freedom's Progress mission, but he had put aside any frustration and completed the mission professionally. This had the unexpected effect of impressing her even more.

Then his damned paragon attitude about placing the lives of survivors and innocents ahead of getting the job done, while troubling, had also impressed her. Cerberus was very much about the big picture, and operated very much on the premise that the ends justified the means, and that sacrifices had to be made for the good of humanity. Shepard was different. The hero of the Blitz, he was famous specifically for doing what nobody else thought could be done; he held Elysium practically single handedly until the breach in the colony's defenses could be sealed, thus ending the attack with very few civilian casualties and minimal losses among his own men. For this the Alliance had awarded him the Star of Terra.

And now, here she was aboard the new Normandy, serving as the war hero's XO. Though she tried to be professional and treat this as a very important mission, part of her was excited to be working with Shepard in spite of her attempts to remain dispassionate. Using her talents to save the galaxy alongside Humanity's greatest hero was very compelling. She simply had to be careful not to fall for the rugged soldier. She had stayed true to her promise for so long … for so many years. There were times that she nearly put it aside, but she had always triumphed over her urges and stayed the course. She worried that if she got too close to this man, she might not be able to this time.

Her door chimed interrupting her thoughts, so she put down her work and signaled the door to open.

"Come in."

It was Shepard. He wore the Cerberus officers' uniform that he had been provided with. _He really wears it well_ , she thought, trying very hard not to visibly admire him. Of course, his clothing options were limited almost entirely to Cerberus uniforms. What little he had that did not bear Cerberus' emblem was undergarments and sleep wear. She laughed silently to herself; he hated the idea of wearing a Cerberus uniform. _Perhaps we'll change your mind_ , she thought.

"What can I do for you, Commander," she opened warmly, smiling at him. Miranda was designed to be the perfect woman, and that included beautiful, seductive looks … and she had trained to use those looks to her fullest advantage. Shepard was all business, however, not showing the slightest crack in his defenses.

"Anything I should know regarding the Normandy?" he asked.

"The crew's working well, and the ship appears to be performing to specifications," she replied cheerfully, still working her looks and charm.

"What exactly are your duties; aside from keeping an eye on me?"

 _Right to it_ , she thought. As a Spectre, it was unlikely that Shepard would be easily taken in, and with her being openly Cerberus, she had her work cut out. Of course, she would have been disappointed if she had been able to wrap him around her finger that easily. She kept the charm on as she answered.

"I'm the Illusive Man's agent. You're his most important asset; my job is to make sure you succeed. Aside from that … I send regular reports to the Illusive Man, updating our status."

She expected him to press her for more concrete information, or to bristle at the mention that she was reporting on him, but he did neither.

"Do you have a minute, Miranda?"

"No doubt you have a lot of questions," she said as reassuringly as she could. "Cerberus isn't as evil as most people would have you believe. If you have any doubts, I'd be happy to answer your questions. So, what would you like to know?"

"I know what we're doing here, but what is Cerberus' long term goals?"

Now this was unexpected. It sounded like genuine interest. _Alright_ , she thought. _I'll bite._

"The advancement of the Human race. Nothing more, nothing less," she proudly declared. "The Salarians have their Special Task Group, the Asari have their legendary commandos for stealth and recon operations. Cerberus is Humanity's answer to those organizations."

"But those organizations are regulated by governments," he countered. "Who keeps Cerberus in check?"

"Nobody," she explained. "We're privately funded and our backers trust the Illusive Man to make the right decisions. But he's very clear about our goals; protect Humanity and serve its advancement." Saying it out loud, even she had to admit that it sounded naïve. She mentally prepared herself for the onslaught of logical rebuttals that she expected him to offer, but he switched gears.

"What is Cerberus? Military? Political? Or both?"

"Cerberus has several divisions," she said. "Political, military, scientific. But we're all working towards the same goal. We keep our ranks and structure similar to the Alliance; a lot of our recruits started there. But not all Cerberus operations use the same protocols. We try not to get bogged down in bureaucracy or formality."

She again braced herself for Shepard to dig into how Cerberus began as an Alliance black op, but instead, he asked about Cerberus' leader.

"What can you tell me about the Illusive Man?"

"Not much that you don't already know. Even I don't have access to most of his background," she confessed. "And you've more of him than most ever do. It's rare for him to become involved in missions, but you're something special." She could hear the admiration in her own voice. It just reinforced all of her self-doubt. A man of fairly humble origins, Shepard's accomplishments had set him apart. No fancy education and no genetic tailoring; just heart, hard work, and largely undeveloped biotics.

And yet, here he was in command of the Normandy, and for the duration of this mission, her superior officer. But she continued before she went further down that rabbit trail; he had to know, to understand, just how important the Illusive Man was to Humanity.

"Whatever else people might say about him, I can assure you he's got Humanity's best interests at heart. That includes you and me."

This time, he did dig into the topic further. "How can you be sure of that if you know so little about him?"

"I didn't get where I am without knowing how to gauge people's motives and ambitions, even from brief encounters," she said somewhat defensively. "He's no saint, and he'd be the first to admit it, but he's committed. Humanity couldn't have a better advocate."

She steeled herself again for an anticipated questioning of the Illusive Man's dedication to Humanity and her ability to know that he was genuine, but again, he switched gears, which threw her off balance.

"What kind of resources does Cerberus have?" he asked.

"We're very well-funded, though I doubt anyone but the Illusive Man knows exactly how well," she said readily. "But our resources are not unlimited; reviving you and rebuilding the Normandy was a significant investment, and a significant risk." Then she added cheerfully, "We're all hoping you can do the impossible, Shepard. No pressure."

Before she could even anticipate his response, not that she had had any success thus far, he caught her off guard saying,

"Tell me about yourself, Miranda."

"I guess that's fair," she replied, almost reflexively. "I've spent the last two years learning everything there is to know about you." That was not entirely true; records of his Spectre missions were sealed beyond even her ability to break in. But his background, Alliance service and public information she had memorized. Only his early life escaped her; it was as if prior to his enrolling in high school, he had never existed.

Before she realized it, she was telling Shepard things about herself. Very personal things … as though she had known him for years. It was as though there was an unexplained rapport between them.

"Well, you should probably know that I've had extensive genetic modification. Not my decision, but I make the most of it." She leaned against the desk, her shoulders momentarily slumping as she thought about the many strings that came attached to her gifts. Then she realized that she was showing more emotion than she intended. She straightened up and smiled, saying, "It's one of the reasons the Illusive Man handpicked me. I'm very good at just about anything I choose to do."

"What level of genetic modification are we talking about?" asked Shepard matter of factly.

"It's very thorough," she said animatedly. Strings or no, her she had always found her own modifications fascinating, not to mention that genetics was a field of intense interest for her. "Physically, I'm superior in many ways. I heal quickly and I'll likely live half again as long as the average human. My biotic abilities are also very advanced … for a human. Add to that some of the best training and education that money can buy and, well, it's pretty impressive … really." Her confidence waned at the end, but he seemed not to notice.

"You certainly don't lack for confidence," he observed, his voice complimentary.

"It's just a fact," she said with some resignation. "My reflexes, my strength, even my looks – they're all designed to give me an edge. No point in hiding from it." As if I could, she thought. Then she added suddenly, "It's the reason I'm trusted to oversee the most dangerous, risky, and technically demanding operations Cerberus undertakes." _Who am I trying sell on that?_ _Him or myself? Time to get the focus off of me, dammit!_ "It's why I was assigned to you. It's my job to make sure you succeed, Shepard."

Nobody else on the ship knew just how much of her supposed gifts were genetically engineered into her. _Nothing of my own_ , she thought. _Why am I telling him all this?_ But before she could answer herself, Shepard ended the conversation.

"Thanks for the information, Miranda. I'll talk to you later."

"Of course, Shepard," she said deferentially. "Whatever you need."

Miranda was relieved as the door closed, leaving her alone in her quarters once again. _If only John … my John Amell were here … I could talk to him about anything. Shepard … he reminds me of my John. But that boy has all but disappeared._ She felt her eyes misting over as she thought about how after they had parted, she had been unable to locate him again, in spite of her best efforts. And yet, she had kept the promise.


	4. Chapter 4: A Spectre Once More

**Chapter 4 – A Spectre Once More**

When Shepard entered the med bay, he was in for quite a surprise. He instantly recognized the graying hair before Doctor Chakwas turned around to face him.

"I watched the Normandy crumble with you on board. It's good to see you alive."

"I'm shocked," Shepard exclaimed, genuinely so. "You're serving on a Cerberus vessel now?" Either Joker and Doctor Chakwas had been hiding their sympathies for years, or things truly were as Miranda and Jacob had said.

"Surprising, even to me," Chakwas said matter of factly. "Yet, here I am." She regarded Shepard for a long moment. "The kind of trauma you endured would have changed most people, but not you, I see. Welcome back, Shepard."

"Doctor, you've been with the Alliance for years. Why leave now?"

"After the Normandy was lost," she explained, "the surviving crew was … reassigned. I was stationed at the Mars Naval Medical Center. A very … respectable position, but it wasn't on a starship."

"Colonial military life isn't for you?"

"I've spent most of my life on warships, never knowing what the next mission might bring," she said, her eyes lighting up as she spoke of the duty she loved. "I'm used to the hum of engines, the creaking of bulkheads, that subtle vertigo when the momentum dampeners kick in. Life planet-side is just too static, too boring."

Shepard knew she was truthful about that, but he also knew that such fondness for serving in the fleet would never have brought her to Cerberus. There had to be more. "You're not the Cerberus type, doctor."

"I don't work for Cerberus," Chakwas said defensively. "I work for you – on a mission that may be crucial to the survival of the human race. I have faith that your dealings with Cerberus will be ethical. I trust you, Commander."

He suspected that her comment about the crew being reassigned held more than just lament about the loss of the ship, but Shepard decided to let it rest for now. "There's a very good chance that this mission will be a one way trip. Are you prepared for that?"

"I've been through the reclaiming of Shanxi, the Skyllian Blitz … We survived the Battle of the Citadel and the destruction of the Normandy together. I've lived a full life … no regrets. I'd like to make sure the crew gets the same opportunity."

"Do you have everything you need?"

"I believe so," Chakwas answered. "This medical bay is very much like the sick bay on the original Normandy. Only thing missing are my private reserves. I even had a bottle of Serrice iced brandy that I was saving for a special occasion."

"I'll keep an eye out for a replacement bottle," Shepard offered, pleased to have Chakwas aboard.

"Oh, you needn't," she admonished. "It's expensive, and we have much larger concerns ahead."

Shepard was still amazed at Doctor Chakwas' presence aboard a Cerberus ship. This further confirmed the assessments of Joker and Jacob, as well as the claims made by Miranda and the Illusive Man about the Alliance and the Council. He checked in briefly with the mess sergeant, who told a tale of losing his family to Batarian pirates before being picked up by Cerberus, and then he paid Miranda a visit. Stepping into Miranda's cabin after ringing the chime, Shepard was greeted by his XO, seated at her desk. She looked up and smiled warmly, reminding him of when he woke up while on the table during his reconstruction.

"Commander," she said politely. "What can I do for you?"

"Do you have a minute, Miranda?"

"No doubt you've got a lot of questions," she said, anticipating the conversation's direction. "Cerberus isn't as evil as most people believe. If I can help allay any of your concerns, I'd be happy to do so." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the desk. "So, what would you like to know?"

"I know what we're doing here, but what is Cerberus' long term goals?"

"The advancement of the Human race. Nothing more, nothing less," she proudly declared. "The Salarians have their Special Task Group, the Asari have their legendary commandos for stealth and recon operations. Cerberus is Humanity's answer to those organizations."

"But those organizations are regulated by governments," he countered. "Who keeps Cerberus in check?"

"Nobody," she explained. "We're privately funded and our backers trust the Illusive Man to make the right decisions. But he's very clear about our goals; protect Humanity and serve its advancement."

He wondered if she realized how naïve … or brainwashed she sounded when she said it out loud. He considered pressing her on this, but opted to switch gears.

"What is Cerberus? Military? Political? Or both?"

"Cerberus has several divisions," she said. "Political, military, scientific. But we're all working towards the same goal. We keep our ranks and structure similar to the Alliance; a lot of our recruits started there. But not all Cerberus operations use the same protocols. We try not to get bogged down in bureaucracy or formality."

Given that Cerberus started out as an Alliance black op, this was hardly surprising.

"What can you tell me about the Illusive Man?"

"Not much that you don't already know. Even I don't have access to most of his background," she confessed. "And you've more of him than most ever do. It's rare for him to become involved in missions, but you're something special." She smiled as she said that last part. "Whatever else people might say about him, I can assure you he's got Humanity's best interests at heart," she continued emphatically. "That includes you and me."

This time, he did dig into the topic further. "How can you be sure of that if you know so little about him?"

"I didn't get where I am without knowing how to gauge people's motives and ambitions, even from brief encounters," she said somewhat defensively. "He's no saint, and he'd be the first to admit it, but he's committed. Humanity couldn't have a better advocate."

 _Yep; brainwashed_ , he thought as he switched gears. He noticed that his sudden changes of topic really threw her off balance. He imagined that she had never actually had to sell Cerberus to anyone like this before.

"What kind of resources does Cerberus have?" he asked.

"We're very well-funded, though I doubt anyone but the Illusive Man knows exactly how well," she said readily. "But our resources are not unlimited; reviving you and rebuilding the Normandy was a significant investment, and a significant risk." Then she added cheerfully, "We're all hoping you can do the impossible, Shepard. No pressure."

Before she could even anticipate his response, not that she had had any success thus far, he changed topics again.

"Tell me about yourself, Miranda."

"I guess that's fair," she replied, almost reflexively. "I've spent the last two years learning everything there is to know about you." That was not entirely true; records of his Spectre missions were sealed beyond even her ability to break in. But his background, Alliance service and public information she had memorized.

Before she realized it, she was telling Shepard things about herself. Very personal things.

"Well, you should probably know that I've had extensive genetic modification. Not my decision, but I make the most of it." She leaned against the desk, her shoulders momentarily slumping as she thought about the many strings that came attached to her gifts. Then she realized that she was showing more emotion than she intended. She straightened up and smiled, saying, "It's one of the reasons the Illusive Man handpicked me. I'm very good at just about anything I choose to do."

"What level of genetic modification are we talking about?" asked Shepard matter of factly.

"It's very thorough," she said animatedly. Strings or no, her she had always found her own modifications fascinating, not to mention that genetics was a field of intense interest for her. "Physically, I'm superior in many ways. I heal quickly and I'll likely live half again as long as the average human. My biotic abilities are also very advanced … for a human. Add to that some of the best training and education that money can buy and, well, it's pretty impressive … really." Her confidence waned at the end, but he seemed not to notice.

"You certainly don't lack for confidence," he observed, his voice complimentary.

"It's just a fact," she said with some resignation. "My reflexes, my strength, even my looks – they're all designed to give me an edge. No point in hiding from it." As if I could, she thought. Then she added suddenly, "It's the reason I'm trusted to oversee the most dangerous, risky, and technically demanding operations Cerberus undertakes." Who am I trying sell on that? she thought. Him or myself? Time to get the focus off of me, dammit! "It's why I was assigned to you. It's my job to make sure you succeed, Shepard."

Nobody else on the ship knew just how much of her supposed gifts were genetically engineered into her. Nothing of my own, she thought. Why am I telling him all this? But before she could answer herself, Shepard ended the conversation.

"Thanks for the information, Miranda. I'll talk to you later."

"Of course, Shepard," she said deferentially. "Whatever you need."

 **2166 –** Miri was in tears. Something had happened, and she called John right away. He watched as Miri rode her bicycle to the corner where he was waiting. Now, they were on their way to the maze at the park. She had said nothing thus far; riding as though she were trying to break the sound barrier. Were he not so fit, and large for his age, he would never have been able to keep up with her. Finally, they were here, and the strong, stalwart girl of sixteen collapsed to the ground and broke down sobbing.

"I have no mother," she cried. "My father lied to me! I have no mother!"

"Miri … did he … kill her?"

"No … she never existed."

This puzzled him; how could she have never existed? How could Miri be here if her mother had never been? He sat down next to her and put an arm around her to comfort her. "Miri … I don't understand."

"He … I wanted to know … about my mother … I was looking for information, so I hacked into his computer. There was nothing on my mother. I found his lab notes instead. He … grew me," she finally said between sobs. "I replaced another … who was not good enough … who he … disposed of!"

The picture began to form in John's mind. There was no love in Doctor Lawson's treatment of Miri, not once that John had ever seen. Now he understood why. Miranda was a mere product, a tool, for what God only knew. And if Miri did not work out, she would be killed, only to be replaced by another.

"I'm nothing, John … I'm just a … a thing. I wouldn't even be a legal human were it not for his legal deceptions. "I feel so worthless."

"You're worth everything to me, Miri," he assured her.

"I know … it's why I called you. I don't know who else I could have shared this with … who else would still love me for who I am. Except that … who I am isn't even me. It was programmed into me by Doctor Lawson."

"That's not true," John countered. "Your experiences make you who you are, just like anyone else. You're a wonderful person, Miri. That kind of thing can't be programmed. Besides, don't we all inherit our genetics from someone? It isn't what we inherit, but what we do with it."

Before he could continue, she grabbed him and kissed him. "I love you, John."

 **2185 –** Shepard jerked to attention. He must have dosed off, but now he was fully awake. The memory of Miri; he remembered it as vividly today, as though it had happened yesterday. After speaking with Miranda, and her revelation that she had received genetic tailoring … and that her father was a wealthy businessman who had financed that tailoring, he was certain that she was his Miri. Was he 100% certain? No, but certain enough to elated at the possibilities, as well as to wonder what had happened to make her so … cold. He also wondered if she had made the connection that John Shepard was John Amell.

It had certainly been long enough for her to have had some fairly life altering experiences. Shepard himself had been through more than a few, starting with the Blitz. But through it all, he had kept his promise to her. He wondered idly if she had kept hers, hopeful that she had. Regardless, the more pressing question was why she had joined Cerberus in the first place. Miranda had always been one to chafe at authority, and her father had always been more the Cerberus type as he recalled. Something drastic must have happened to prompt her to go to join the militant pro human group.

He put those questions aside, however, as he made his way from his cabin to the CIC, and strode up the ramp to the galaxy map. Miranda was right; Mordin Solis was indispensable on this mission, but recruiting him was to be their second stop. Their first stop would be the Citadel. Shepard knew that if he were to have the Council reinstate his Spectre status that he could essentially do everything he needed to with Council authority, regardless of how they felt about Cerberus. He enjoyed the irony as he selected the Serpent Nebula, and then the Citadel, and gave the order to Joker to plot the course.

When they disembarked at the Citadel, they found that the security had gotten a lot tighter … and a lot more human. C-Sec, which had been mostly Turian the last time Shepard had visited, was now mostly human. The captain of Zakera Ward, Bailey, was human too. Once Bailey had cleared him through security and updated C-Sec records to reflect that Shepard was alive, he went immediately to the Council. Miranda and Jacob insisted on going with him, though he had warned that if they got arrested, not to blame him.

"Shepard, I know we forwarded Councilor Anderson's message to you," Miranda began. "But do we really need to go visiting him now? I don't have to remind you that the clock is ticking."

"No, you don't," Shepard retorted. "But I don't have to remind you that Alliance and Council interference could be far more costly than this little excursion." Before they could discuss further, he heard a familiar voice.

"Commander Shepard," called Khalisah al-Jilani. "The people want to hear your story."

He walked over to her, deciding to get it over with and have at least some influence over what she was saying about him.

"Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani, Westerlund News." She extended her hand. When he did not shake her hand, she reminded Shepard of their last meeting. "I interviewed you two years ago, when you became the first human Spectre. You presented your case very well on camera. Do you have a minute?"

"What? So you can try to do another smear job on me?" Shepard remembered how al-Jilani twisted his words to make him look like a shill for the Council, selling out humanity to the aliens.

"Now, Shepard," she said condescendingly, "you may not agree with my methods, but we're on the same side."

 _Like hell we are._

"You're back, you're news," she continued. "I just want to give your story its due." When Shepard did not walk away, she activated the camera with her data pad. "Sources say that you were at the heart of the Presidium during the battle of the Citadel. It's fair to say the course of battle hinged on your words." Then the change in tone that Shepard expected came. "If true, you told Admiral Hackett to assist the Destiny Ascension, costing hundreds of human lives, and securing the continued dominance of the Citadel Council."

Shepard was ready for this. "The Turians lost around twenty cruisers. Each had a crew of around three hundred. The Ascension – the Asari dreadnaught we saved – had a crew of nearly ten thousand."

"But surely, the human cost …" Khalisah began, but he cut her off.

"The Alliance lost eight cruisers," Shepard declared. "Shemyang, Emden, Jakarta, Cairo, Seoul, Cape Town, Warsaw, Madrid. And yes, I remember them all. Everyone in the fifth fleet is a hero. The Alliance owes them all medals. The Council owes them a lot more than that … and so do you."

"Commander Shepard, first human Spectre, hero of the Battle of the Citadel," Khalisah said as Shepard turned and walked away. "Check vid. We get it? Great; bull rushed on my own show."

Shepard had no time for the likes of al-Jilani. He had a councilor to meet. He did notice Miranda's approving smile as they walked. He hoped that this meant that they were finally gelling as a team.

They walked took a skycar to Councilor Anderson's office, where Shepard was to meet with his former CO and a holo-vid enabled Citadel Council. When he saw Shepard, Anderson turned to face him. He raised his eyebrows at the sight of Miranda and Jacob, but said nothing as he extended his hand. Miranda stopped Jacob from entering further, as she wished to stay out of the direct view of the Council.

"Oh, Commander; we were just talking about you."

"It's been a long time, Anderson," Shepard said as he shook the councilor's hand. "I hope the past couple of years have treated you right."

"There've been some rough spots," the councilor lamented. "It's good to have you back."

 _You can thank me for that, Councilor_ , Miranda thought. Then Valern, the Salarian councilor began the political prattle.

"We've heard many rumors surrounding your unexpected return. Some of them are … unsettling."

"We called this meeting so you could explain your actions, Shepard," said Tevos, the Asari councilor. "We owe you that much. After all, you saved our lives in the battle against Saren and his Geth."

Miranda saw Shepard stiffen at the comment. _He caught it too_ , she thought. _Good; now he'll see firsthand how they deny the Reapers_. He surprised her by not latching onto this. Instead, he got right to business.

"The Collectors are abducting entire human colonies in the Terminus Systems," Shepard declared. "Worse, we think they're working for the Reapers."

"The Terminus Systems are beyond our jurisdiction," Sparatus, the Turian Councilor, groused. "They knew this when they left Council Space."

"What an insufferable ass," Miranda whispered to Jacob, who could only shake his head at the fiasco that was playing out before them.

"You're missing the important part," Anderson interjected. "The Reapers _are_ involved."

This made Miranda wonder if the topic of missing colonies had been brought up before by Anderson, only to be shut down by the aliens.

"Ah yes, Reapers," Sparatus spat, making a quotation gesture with his fingers as he said that last word. "The immortal race of sentient starships allegedly waiting in darkspace." He waved his hand, saying, "We've dismissed that claim."

Anderson then turned to Shepard. "Shepard, no one else encountered the hologram on Ilos that told you the truth about the Reapers. Only you and your crew ever spoke with Sovereign. I believe you, but without evidence from another source, the others think that Saren was behind the Geth attacks."

She could not believe that this impotent man had just said that because only Shepard had encountered Sovereign that it was understandable that the "claim" was dismissed … even though both the Council and the Alliance had encountered the Reaper themselves. Shepard's body language told her that he was becoming highly agitated.

"Go back to Ilos and talk to Vigil," Shepard retorted with disbelief. "Or just look at what's left of Sovereign. It's obvious the technology is more advanced than ours."

Miranda shook her head. She knew that Shepard meant all of galactic society when he said, "ours," but they most certainly thought he meant the Alliance. _Oh, Shepard, when will you learn that they don't view us as being a part of their society?_

"The hologram on Ilos is no longer functional," Valern replied. "And we have found nothing to suggest that Sovereign was not a Geth creation."

"The Geth are capable of remarkable technological achievements," Tevos added. "That's probably why Saren recruited them."

"This Reaper theory proves just how fragile your mental state is," Sparatus accused. "You have been manipulated. By Cerberus, and before them by Saren."

"Saren was an organic. The Geth would never accept him as their leader," Shepard countered, still trying to dialogue with them as if they would understand logic. "They only followed him because he was Sovereign's agent."

"Saren was a compelling and charismatic individual," Tevos replied, as if charisma had any sway over the Geth. "He convinced the Geth that the Reapers were real … just as he convinced you."

"It was part of his plan to attack the Citadel," Sparatus said, on the attack once again. "The Reapers are just a myth, one you insist on perpetuating."

"We believe that you believe it," Tevos counseled, "but that doesn't make it true."

Shepard had had enough. "I kept Saren from conquering the Citadel," he reminded them, taking a few steps towards their avatars. "I sacrificed human lives to save this council."

"We are in a difficult position, Shepard," Tevos responded. "You are working for Cerberus, an avowed enemy of the Council. This is treason – a capital offence!"

"That's too far!" Anderson finally developed a spine. "Shepard is a hero! I'm on this council too, and I won't let this whitewash continue!"

"Maybe there's a compromise," she offered. "Not a public acknowledgment, given your ties, but something to show peripheral support."

"Shepard," said Sparatus, "if you keep a low profile and restrict your operations to the Terminus Systems, the Council is willing to reinstate your status as a Spectre."

They already knew what they were going to say, even before Shepard arrived. The whole thing was just a way to make Shepard … and the impotent Anderson … feel indebted to them.

"What does that mean?" Shepard was still angry with them. "Will I have to start filing reports?"

"That won't be necessary," Valern assured. "This is a show of good faith on our part."

"We cannot become involved in an investigation regarding the missing colonies in the Terminus Systems," Tevos said, "But Spectre status shows our support of you personally."

"I accept your offer," Shepard replied, his frustration evaporating; he had what he wanted from them; no need to antagonize them.

"Good luck with your investigation, Shepard," Tevos said cheerfully. "We hope for a quick resolution, and a quick end to your association with Cerberus."

The meeting was brief, and Shepard hoped that perhaps the Alliance and the Council might offer some counterpoint to the assessments of Jacob, Joker, and Miranda. Instead, it only served to reinforce those assessments.

Anderson was but a shadow of his former self, and was all but ignored by the rest of the Council, who was determined to paint him as delusional, and the Reapers as imaginary. The only silver lining was that they did, in fact, reinstate his Spectre status, something that even the truculent Udina seemed pleased about. Anderson did take some time to chat, but beyond small talk, his old captain stonewalled him at every turn. Shepard was glad to get out.

"It's as we said, isn't it?"

Miranda's question as they stepped into the elevator was not pompous or gloating. It was almost sad, prompting him to wonder if she had once had faith in the Alliance, only to lose it through some failure of politics. Shepard was practically there himself, and if she were to attempt to recruit him at this very moment, he would be sorely tempted to accept.

"Unfortunately," Shepard replied. "I knew it was bad, but they were actually worse than I had thought.

"Now you see why I left," Jacob said. "We've all told you our stories, but it's not the same if you haven't seen it yourself."

"Let's get back to the Normandy and get to Omega," Shepard said, determined to talk with Jacob in private later. "We need Doctor Solis to go further."


	5. Chapter 5: A Promise Made

**Chapter 5: A Promise Made**

With a course for Omega plotted and the ship underway, taking Shepard away from the Citadel as quickly as he could have it do so, it was time for him to pay Jacob Taylor a visit. He entered the armory where Jacob seemed to be constantly working. It was impeccable. In fact, he had to say that aside from the odd placement of the armory behind the CIC, it was superior to the armory in the SR-1, and Jacob maintained it wonderfully.

"Commander," he said, saluting. "There really hasn't been time to settle in and take stock. I want to say that working with you is an opportunity to do something that matters."

Shepard liked that Jacob still remembered how to act in the military, and he liked the man's convictions … so far.

"It's a privilege to server on the Normandy, Commander," Jacob added.

"You may change your tune if we end up like the original Normandy," Shepard said with a chuckle.

"Maybe," Jacob conceded. "As long as the Illusive Man walks his talk, and you do the same, I'll do my best to make sure we succeed. That's been the condition for my service so far." Jacob paused, finding the right words. "I have … issues with certain actions Cerberus has taken in the past."

 _So you aren't all just one big happy family_ , Shepard thought. Then he asked, "What has Cerberus done to make you nervous?"

"A _lot_. They've been called terrorists, and with good reason. Doubt you can find a more checkered past." Then he folded his arms. "But if the Collector threat is real, and we do something about it, Cerberus will be remembered differently." Then he smiled and added, "Or we'll all be court martialed and executed. Can't count on people thinking about it as hard as I have."

"I look forward to working with you, Mister Taylor," Shepard said, resisting the urge to press further. With the conversation over, Jacob saluted, and Shepard left, satisfied that Jacob was on the level with him.

With that out of the way, Shepard returned to his cabin to think. He had to think about this mission, and Cerberus, but most of all, he had to think about Miranda. He was so sure that she was his Miri, but was she really? It had been over fifteen years since he had seen her, and people can change a lot. Even if it really was her, Miri would not be the sixteen year old girl he knew when he was twelve.

He had keepsakes from his time with Miri that he had kept with him on the original Normandy. All those had been lost, however, burned up most likely as the ship had gone down to the planet below. One such keepsake had been a picture of her, something he wished he had right now. Without that, there was no comparing the girl he knew with the woman he worked with. He could not stay in his quarters too long, but he hoped to calm his mind, even if no answers would be forthcoming. "I suppose I could just ask her," he said to himself as he rode the lift. Then he dismissed the idea; Miranda could easily improvise the role of a long lost teen love. No, he had to discern this on his own.

Miranda finished her coffee and then stared blankly at her computer screen. _How can this be happening?_ She asked the question over and over again in her mind. Shepard … seeing him in action on Freedom's Progress, talking to him, and seeing him handle Khalisah al-Jilani and the Council had all caused her to begin believing. She had long written his reputation off as popular folk myth, but seeing him first hand was making her realize that the reality might actually eclipse the myth. Worse still, she was developing feelings for him, and that was unacceptable.

"I made a promise," she said aloud. "I won't break it, not even for Shepard." She vowed to put those feelings from her mind and to put some distance between the two of them. She would maintain her cold aloofness, she decided. _That should keep us from getting too close_ , she thought.

Her door chimed, and she thought it might be Shepard. Instead, it was Jacob Taylor. He entered hesitantly, as though he were about to ask her something but was unsure of what her reaction to it would bring.

"Miranda," he said huskily. "I had some downtime; I was … hoping you did too."

"Why, Jacob? I already told you I'm not interested."

"That's it? Not even willing to give it a try?"

"Not even once."

Jacob deflated, sighing heavily. "It's Shepard, right?"

"Is that what you think?" Miranda felt her anger rising. "You think I'd just suddenly fall for him because he's Shepard? I told you that I have my reasons for remaining unattached, Jacob, and I've seen you in action enough to know you're not the one for me, even if I were looking."

"Dammit, Miranda, I thought we were more than just coworkers."

"So did I," she said tersely. "I thought we were friends. You're dismissed, Mister Taylor; I have work to do."

He stood there for a few moments, a look of challenge in his eyes at her abrupt dismissal, but he briskly saluted her and left.

"Great," she said aloud. "First I find myself falling for Shepard, and now Jacob is trying to bed me again. I can't win!"

Somehow, Admiral Hackett had found a way to contact Shepard aboard the new Normandy. This meant that the Alliance knew about Shepard and Cerberus. Miranda wondered how this was possible; Shepard's outgoing communications were all tapped and monitored, and as near as anyone could tell, he had made no attempts to send any outgoing communications. Miranda knew that Shepard was resourceful, but she doubted that he could out-hack her. But if Shepard had not been the leak, then who was?

It seemed that Hackett wanted Shepard to do work for the Alliance as well, going to Alchera, the world the first Normandy had crashed following what was most certainly an attack by the Collectors, and collecting dog tags of the dead from the wreckage so that they could be returned to their families. Shepard had accepted the mission without hesitation, which bothered Miranda, though she understood his desire to go. _Better to accommodate him_ , she thought. _It might make him more sympathetic to us, and that could be of use later on_.

Miranda had been concerned when Shepard took the shuttle alone to search the wreckage of the old Normandy; Shepard could have taken the shuttle and made a break for it, but he was insistent. Thankfully, it seemed that he was true to his word and was returning. When the shuttle was incoming, she went to the shuttle bay to wait for him, still concerned that he may have actually tricked them and sent the shuttle back empty. Jacob had joined her, though she was not sure why.

"Reminds me of old stories," he said after they had stood silently for about five minutes.

"What?" she asked, suddenly turning towards him, a puzzled look on her face.

"You waiting for the Commander," replied Jacob. "You're worried about him, aren't you?"

"Worried that he may have just ditched us," she said darkly.

"Not what your body language says," replied Jacob.

She was about to respond when the shuttle bay opened. The Mass Effect field kept the bay from depressurizing, so they were able to stand there with no breathing apparatus. It occurred to her that if Shepard had wanted to, he could have deactivated the field. It would have been child's play for a man with his skill. She wondered why that thought had not occurred to her before they were standing here untethered and without any breathing apparatus on hand.

When Shepard stepped out of the shuttle, she felt reassured; she had trusted Shepard and he had lived up to her trust. When he removed his helmet, she noticed that he was somber. He had in his hands twenty dog tags that had been worn by men and women he considered friends.

"Commander," she said, as she and Jacob saluted him. "Find what you were looking for?"

"Yeah," he said, holding up the tags.

 _Is that … tears in his eyes?_ She could hardly believe it; Shepard wept for his lost crewmen. She had always heard that he was a very stoic man, but to see how deeply he cared for his old crew, his friends, really moved her. _Not just friends_ , she thought, family. She noticed that he had taken time to get to know the crew of the Normandy SR-2, even though they were Cerberus, and not just to get information. He talked to them about their families and friends, loved ones they worried about losing to the Collectors, and in some cases, loved ones they had lost to the Collectors. Shepard, for all his resistance to Cerberus, had fallen into his role as skipper. Perhaps it was the presence of Joker and Doctor Chakwas, but she did not think so. Shepard was one of those rare people who actually cared about the people who served under him. She found it comforting to be among them.

"That'll really bring peace to their families," said Jacob. "It's been two years, but still; those things bring … closure, you know?"

Shepard nodded in agreement as the bay door closed. Before she realized what she was doing, Miranda reached out and touched his arm.

"I'm sorry, Shepard." She tried to be consoling. "I know they were good men and women."

"They were," he replied. He looked back at her with a bittersweet smile and touched her hand. "Thanks." Then he brushed past them, going straight to the lift.

"You're welcome," she said as the doors closed.

Shepard was not ready to get overly emotional with Miranda, though part of him wanted to. Had Jacob not been there, he might have. Personally finding the dogtags had affected him more deeply than he had thought it would, but he had also found something that might help him answer some questions about Miranda. When Shepard had found one of his old helmets, he had also found a charred datapad not far away. The helmet had been in his cabin, and he hoped that the datapad was also his, as it contained something he had thought forever lost.

Shepard removed his gear and returned to his cabin with the nearly melted hunk of plastic and circuitry, immediately getting to work retrieving the datacard from it. It took some doing, as the casing had melted around the outside of the socket, but after several minutes, the battered shell released its hold on the card, enabling him to carefully remove it. Examining it closely, Shepard was pleased to find that it appeared intact.

His cabin had been well appointed, and someone had thought it necessary to give him an electronic picture frame. He inserted the card into the frame's empty slot and was pleased to find that it was still functional. He went to his picture file and sure enough, Miri's old picture was in it. He scanned the frame with his omni-tool, and copied the picture to the tool's drives. There were no classified or sensitive files on the card; most of it was pictures and vids of the old Normandy crew. He found one group photo and set that on the frame, and then placed the frame on his desk.

Activating his omni-tool, he looked at Miri's picture, studying it and comparing the image to Miranda. Miri had been sixteen when he had taken the photo; it was one of the last times he had seen her. She certainly _could_ have grown into Miranda, he concluded. He looked into the image's eyes, eyes that were the same as Miranda's, and felt certain that they were indeed the same person.

"This can't be coincidence," he said aloud. Shepard was not yet ready to confront her about it; he needed to find out more about the woman she had become … and the organization in which she had risen to prominence. Shepard poured himself a glass of bourbon and reclined in the chair, pondering Miri and Miranda.

 **2167 –** John heard Miri's voice as he walked into the diner. He turned in the direction of their conversation and saw her in one of the booths. Miri was talking to a young man that Shepard had never seen before. He assumed that the young man was from school, as he was about Miranda's age. They seemed to be arguing about something. John walked over to them, debating whether or not to say hello to Miri.

"Get lost, kid," the young man barked, noticing John first.

Miri turned, her face lighting up when her eyes met his. Though she was clearly happy to see him, a sadness showed in her eyes. Then she glared at the young man.

"Don't speak to him like that, Niket. John is someone I care very deeply about, and I won't have you disrespecting him."

"Yeah, you told me about him," Niket sneered. "I already gave you my opinion; whatever you're gonna do, do it soon. I'll cover for you if anyone asks me anything. Good luck."

"Thanks Niket," she replied.

Niket stood, and Shepard was surprised to see that the young man was actually shorter than him. Niket brushed past him, bumping John as he did so. John laughed as Niket actually knocked himself off balance in the attempt. Niket glared at him, drawing a giggle from Miri, and then stormed out. Shepard dutifully took Niket's seat.

"He won't be needing this; mind if I join you?"

"Not at all," she replied, her eyes tearing up. "John, there's something I need to tell you, but not here. I have a skycar outside."

"No way!" John was envious.

"It's on loan," she qualified. "I'll only have it briefly. I was planning to come see you next. Come on; we need to get out of here."

Miri then wolfed down the remainder of her food and paid, grabbing John's hand and leaving briskly with him in tow. Not that she needed to; he would go with her anywhere.

Outside was a skycar that opened at Miri's command, and the two were soon off and away from the diner. She put the car on autopilot and turned to face him, tears now streaming down her cheeks.

"I'm leaving John." She held up a hand when he opened his mouth to reply. "I wish with all my heart that I could take you with me, but I can't. I also can't tell you what I'm doing or why; the less you know, the better."

He was silent, not knowing quite what to say. He considered pressing her for information, but he knew that whatever she was going to do, she was already doing. The back seat of the skycar was occupied by a duffle bag and a large, cylindrical object under a cover. He hoped that she knew what she was doing.

"Will I ever see you again?"

"Yes," she said resolutely, smiling through her tears. "Once this is all settled, I'll look you up, I promise. There will be no other, I swear it. Just … just wait for me."

"I'd wait a lifetime for you, Miri."

She leaned over the console and hugged him tightly, as though she did not want to let go. Then she kissed him passionately. "Promise me, John; promise me that you won't forget me, and that … and that you'll look for me when you're a man. I'll wait for you to find me, John."

"I promise, Miri. I promise!"

 **2185 –** Shepard had finished his bourbon, the smooth drink a fine accompaniment to his pondering of Miranda and Miri. The memory of Miri's parting as fresh now as it was in the moments after she left, and John never saw Miri again after that day. He had looked for her after he turned eighteen, and had continued to do so for years after that. He had even used his resources as a Spectre to try to seek her out, and had thought he was close more than once, but Miri's trail always went cold.

Now, it seemed that fate had brought them together at a time when neither of them was looking. And he was as certain that Miranda was Miri as he could be without actually digging into her personal files. But though it may be Miri all grown up, he wondered if any of the Miri he loved remained in the Miranda before him … or if she had kept the promise that they had made that fateful day.

The intercom crackled to life, Joker's voice breaking the silence. "We're coming up on Omega, Commander. Thought you'd want to know."

"Thanks Joker. I'll be in the CIC shortly."

"Roger that, Commander."

The CIC meant close proximity to the perky-bordering on flirty Kelly Chambers. A thought occurred to him. Kelly was the ship's councilor. Perhaps she had some insight into Miranda that professional confidentiality would not prevent her from sharing. He only hoped that he could speak privately with her without her thinking that he was responding to her flirts. Then he had an idea. Recently back from the dead, so to speak, he had underwent severe emotional trauma by any measurement. _Perfect reason to see the councilor_ , he thought.

 **Horizon –** Operations Chief Ashley Williams endured the cold looks that most of the colonists offered her. She was here to promote the thing she loved more than anything in the galaxy besides her family: The Alliance. Not only was she here to promote the Alliance, but she was also on Horizon to follow up on a tip that the Alliance's greatest hero, Commander Shepard, may yet live … and may be a traitor.

She did not think that it was possible. In spite of his never returning her affections, Ashley Williams loved the Commander. They never became more than good friends, but she had loved him anyway. And he loved the Alliance. The rumor was that he was working for Cerberus, an organization that he had spent considerable time dismantling, Ashley and Kaiden at his side. Whatever the truth, she would get to the bottom of it.


	6. Chapter 6: Omega

**Chapter 6 – Omega**

The Normandy cruised into Omega, and the terminal was essentially self-serve. There was no crew to receive the ship or to track who was coming and going. It was no wonder that smugglers, mercs, and criminals called Omega home. Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob disembarked and headed towards the entrance to the station. Standing near the door was a large man in heavy armor stomping on a Batarian. As Shepard approached, the Batarian beseeched him for help.

"Please … you have to help me," he pled, still reeling from Zaeed's savage beating.

"Nobody said you could talk, jackass," the man in armor growled, stomping the Batarian's head.

"You Zaeed Massani?" Shepard knew who the man was; the dossier from the Illusive Man had included photos and a full write up. He knew immediately that the merc would be a problem that would need solving later. Massani reminded him a bit too much of Lieutenant Brad Vernon, his mother's abusive ex-boyrfriend. _Good riddance to that asshole_ , he thought.

Zaeed stopped beating the Bartarian and stood up, pausing for a moment before turning around. Upon seeing Shepard, he nodded. "Yeah, that's me. You must be Commander Shepard. I hear we have a galaxy to save."

"I assume you've been briefed," Shepard said, hoping the answer was yes.

"I've done my homework," Zaeed replied. "Cerberus sent me everything I needed to know."

Shepard was curious as to how this man came to be working for the organization. Also, if he kept Massani talking, it would give the Batarian a reprieve. "What's your relationship to Cerberus?"

"Easy; Cerberus is paying me a lot of money to help you on your mission," Zaeed explained. "That's the long and short."

"Not many mercs would take a suicide mission for the pay," Shepard said dubiously.

"Most mercs don't get an offer like the one Cerberus sent me," the merc countered as he paced back and forth, keeping an eye on his prisoner. "This mission doesn't sound like good business. But … your Illusive Man can move a lot of credits."

"My contacts told me we were picking up one man, not two." Shepard had no intention of providing taxi services to Zaeed for his prisoner.

"Batarian delinquent," Zaeed explained offhandedly. "Pissed off someone rich enough to hire me to go after him. And for my bring 'em in alive rates even."

"Please," interjected the dazed Batarian. "I didn't do it!"

"I said shut it!" Zaeed's words were accompanied by a stomp kick to the head.

Shepard disliked the man right away, though he had no doubt of the merc's competence. He noticed Jacob wince every time Zaeed struck the prone prisoner, while Miranda simply stood there, her self-assured and slightly arrogant look unwavering.

"Tried to lead me on a chase all over the systems," Zaeed continued. "Should have known better; these people always run to Omega."

Shepard had a strong dislike bordering on hatred for Batarians, but he was finding that he had similar feelings about Massani. _Time to end this conversation_ , he thought. "Go ahead and get set up on the Normandy. We have a lot to do."

"Right, I'll go make myself at home," replied the merc, somewhat miffed by Shepard's dismissiveness. Zaeed motioned with his gun to the Batarian to get up. "I assume the Illusive Man told you about our arrangement."

"No," Shepard replied, perturbed by the notion of helping Zaeed out with his dirty work. "I guess he decided to leave that information out of the dossier."

"Good thing I asked. Picked up a mission a little while back, just before I signed on with Cerberus. Thought you might be interested."

 _Great_ , Shepard thought. _Now I've got hired thugs trying to guess at my interests. Damn; may as well hear him out, seeing as how Miranda and Jacob are just standing there like a pair of lumps._

"You heard the name, Vido Santiago?"

Shepard shook his head, still wondering where this was going.

"He's the head of the Blue Suns," Zaeed explained. "Runs the whole organization. Seems he recently captured an Eldfell Ashland refinery on Zorya, and's using the workers for slave labor. The company wants it dealt with."

Slavery; one of the reasons Shepard hated Batarians was their cultural perpetuation of the slave trade, which included trafficking in humans. Slavery in any form needed to be ended. "I'll make sure we get that done," he said authoritatively.

"Good; get it out of the way so we can concentrate on being big goddam heroes." The Batarian took advantage of Zaeed's chattiness and tried to run, but the bounty hunter was prepared, shooting the Batarian in the leg. "I'd better turn this thing in before it starts to stink." As he walked off, Zaeed added, "I'll be locked and loaded the next time you're ready to get some killing done."

Shepard watched Zaeed walk away, dragging the Batarian, and shaking his head at the sight of it. He had no doubt that Zaeed was good in a fight, and that the merc was probably personable enough, but it just felt wrong. Garrus and Wrex were both good in a fight, but there was more to them than this. Did they really have to hire on such people?

"You don't approve, do you?" Miranda sounded annoyed.

"No, I don't."

"But you agreed to do his job," Jacob noted.

"Yeah," Shepard sneered. "A job that was arranged before I ever met the man as a condition of his joining us. And if it didn't involve freeing enslaved workers, I'd have told him to get lost. Saving the galaxy should be enough incentive anyway."

Miranda shook her head and laughed mirthlessly. "You Alliance types; you always just expect people to follow because you have an important cause. You never really give a shit about what the people you lead have to go through, do you?"

"Actually, I do," Shepard retorted. "And if I didn't, we probably wouldn't have gotten the cooperation from Tali that we did. I went out of my way to get her the data she needed to complete her pilgrimage, as well as to track down a suspect for Garrus, and an heirloom for Wrex. You think we … 'Alliance types,' as you put it don't care? I've seen enough Cerberus bullshit in my day to know that all your talk about keeping humanity strong is just that; bullshit. So don't come at me with your holier than thou attitude, Miranda."

"Bullshit? We brought you back and you dare to say …"

"Woah!" Jacob physically stepped in between Shepard and Miranda, facing Shepard. "Come on Shepard; give Miranda a chance. She's got two years of her life invested in you."

Shepard was sorely tempted to press the issue further, but opted not to. "Neither of you are interested in anything I have to say except orders, so cut the chatter and let's get moving. Try not to get lost." With that, Commander Shepard turned his back on them and strode into Omega.

Miranda felt the anger boiling inside of her. _How dare he?_ She moved to confront him again, but Jacob grabbed her arm. As Shepard got a little further away, he turned to face her.

"I backed you up because I respect you, Miranda, but that was uncalled for."

"What? Confronting him about calling Cerberus bullshit?"

"No," Jacob corrected. "Generalizing him as an Alliance type, and then saying that Alliance types don't care about the people they lead. I was an Alliance type, and I cared a _lot_. And everyone who served in the Alliance knew that Shepard cared more about the people than anyone. There's a reason that Shepard is a 'bloody icon,' as you like to say. And it aint just his kill count, though he's got pretty much everyone beat. Nobody, and I mean nobody, risks it all for a bunch of colonists like Shepard did during the Blitz without caring. And I've talked to people who were there."

"So, what?" She stood defiantly, her hands on her hips. "You're saying I should go crawling to him and apologize? Then come to bed with you afterward?"

"No on both counts," Jacob said. "I'm just giving you a heads up about the man. You do whatever you want; this all goes south, and you're the one the Illusive Man will hold accountable, not me. Anyway, we'd better go before he really _does_ lose us."

Miranda cursed herself for overdoing it on the pushback; she really did admire Shepard, but perhaps this was all that was needed. She only hoped that she had not damaged her working relationship with the commander. She and Jacob caught up to the brisk Commander Shepard, who only two months ago was not even conscious, only for the three of them to have their progress delayed by a fawning Salarian.

"Welcome to Omega," he said nervously. "You're new here; I can always tell." As the Salarian spoke, a burlier Batarian was walking up behind him. "Allow me to …" It was then that he noticed the Batarian, who now stood beside him. "Hello Moklan. I was just …"

"Leave, Fargut. Now," the Batarian ordered in his low, husky voice.

"Oh, of course, Moklan. Whatever she wants."

Moklan waved the Salarian off, shaking his head as the Salarian scurried away. "Blasted scavengers," he groused. "Welcome to Omega … Shepard."

"You know who I am?" Shepard did not seem overly surprised, but Miranda did. Nobody should know that Shepard was alive, and the Normandy SR-2 was undetectable by any means available to Omega. Someone had tipped them off, and that would have to have been someone on the inside.

"Of course," replied Moklan. "We had you tagged the moment you entered the Terminus Systems. You're not as subtle as you think. Aria wants to know what brings a dead Spectre to Omega. I suggest you go to Afterlife now, and present yourself."

"I'll talk to your boss when I'm damn well ready," Shepard declared.

"Then you'd better _get_ ready," Moklan admonished. "No one keeps Aria waiting. Afterlife; now." The Batarian turned and walked away, most likely assuming that his little display was enough to get Shepard moving.

"So, Afterlife?" Miranda looked to Shepard, hoping that he had calmed down in the past few minutes.

"No, _not_ Afterlife," Shepard sneered. "I know where Mordin Solis is; I didn't get where I did in the marines by depending on thugs to tell me my objectives. I made sure your boss provided me with up to date floor plans and Mordin's precise location. One thing I'll say for Cerberus; you play the intel game well. Come on."

Finding Mordin proved more of a challenge than expected. First, they took a trip through the markets, as Shepard insisted on expanding his equipment beyond what Cerberus had provided. Though she had resisted the notion at first, Miranda found the experience to be very enlightening. Shepard negotiated like an expert procurement officer, and she imagined that he had gotten quite good at it as a Spectre, where he had to often rely on his own resources.

More revealing was their encounter with a broke Quarian salvage merchant, who had ended up stuck on Omega after being robbed, and could not afford to leave. Apparently, Harrot, a senior merchant, was forcing him to sell high, insuring that the Quarian would never make any real profit. Shepard simply paid for the Quarian's ticket off of the seedy station. Perhaps he really did care. She doubted that he would do such a thing just to impress her and win an argument. No, his actions were natural, innate, not forced or scripted.

Once that was done, they went to enter the slum district where Mordin's clinic was located, only to find that it was quarantined. A human woman was arguing vociferously with a Turian in body armor.

"Complaining is pointless, human," the guard admonished. "There's a plague; nobody gets in or out." She stood defiantly, and the guard noticed Shepard and his team, so he shouted, "I told you to get lost, lady! The plague has the whole zone quarantined. Nobody gets in!"

"I'm human, you ass," the woman objected. "Humans can't get the plague. Now let me get my stuff out before looters get it."

"This thing affects every other race out there," he yelled, pointing at her. "We're not taking chances! Nobody gets in until the plague has run its course."

"You can't keep me out," she protested. "I'm going to lose all my stuff!"

"I'm doing you a favor, human," the Turian said more softly now that Shepard was standing right next to them. "Anybody in the quarantine zone will be dead from the plague or the gangs in a few weeks."

Shepard had heard enough. Edi had already sent the files on the plague to his data pad. Humans were immune. "There's a Salarian named Mordin Solis in the slums. I've got to get in there to find him."

"The doctor? Yeah, crazy bastard opened a clinic in the district a few months ago," the guard explained. "The Blue Suns weren't too happy when he moved in. I hear Mordin's trying to deal with the plague. I wish him luck, but the area's still locked down. Our orders are to wait until the plague or the Blue Suns kill everyone. Then go in and clean up."

"Take a good long look," Shepard said menacingly. "Do I look like a looter to you?"

"Uh … no."

"Anybody gets in my way," the commander threatened, "I'll kill them. I see any looters, I'll kill them too. Are we clear?"

"Yeah, yeah," the Turian said nervously. "I'll radio ahead and let them know you're coming."

"Wait," the woman interjected. "You're stopping me, but not them? You son of a bitch!"

"You don't have a grenade launcher lady," replied the guard. "Get lost."

Miranda watched the exchange with detached curiosity. Shepard could lean on people when he needed to, and they listened, even if they did not know who he was. He had a presence about him, something that few so called heroes actually had. That smug Turian was enjoying denying that woman a little too much; Miranda did enjoy seeing Shepard take him down a few pegs.

Once they were in the slum district, the Blue Suns came out in force almost immediately, but the three of them made quick work of their opposition. Shepard clearly had not lost any steps during his lengthy rebuilding, and both she and Jacob were top notch operatives. The Blue Suns did not stand a chance.

A chance encounter with a dying Batarian, however, served to shatter her perceptions of Shepard even more. The Batarian insulted them, accusing "humans" of spreading the plague and accused Shepard of being a looter. He ranted so much that he almost gave himself a heart attack, but Shepard told him, "Hey, stay with me; this won't cure the plague, but it might help a bit," and gave the sick Batarian an infusion of medigel to deal with the external symptoms of the plague.

The Batarian struggled to his feet. "You helped me? Why?"

"It's what I do," Shepard replied. "I don't know if I can finds a cure for this plague, but I'm going to try."

The Batarian's tone changed after that, and he gave them a better picture of what was going on in the slum district. Miranda was only half listening, though. _Why would he help this alien? We have the floorplans and intel on resistance; we don't need this creature's help_. She doubted that Shepard would do something like this just to prove her wrong about Alliance types. If anything, it showed him to be very different from both the Alliance and Cerberus. Miranda herself would never have done that unless she thought the victim had valuable intel. She did not have time to ponder the matter further, however, as Shepard wrapped up with the Batarian in short order and was on the move again.

 **2167 –** Miri had been gone now for almost a year, and her father had packed up and moved shortly afterward. It was a year to the day since he had seen her last, and he had not heard one word from her since. He doubted that his day could get any worse until he was in front of his house and could actually hear Lieutenant Brad Vernon, his mother's boyfriend, beating her and shouting obscenities at her.

"Enough is enough," he said aloud, as he stormed into the house. As soon as he was inside, he realized that the commotion was coming from the bedroom. He went to the basement and unlocked the gun cabinet, removing a Kessler pistol and unlocking the safety. He went upstairs and found Vernon standing over a bloodied mess of a woman. Her face was barely recognizable as human, and Vernon's fists were covered in her blood.

"Put that down, you little punk!"

John ignored him, firing a shot into Vernon's kneecap. The marine collapsed to the ground, howling in pain, tears now streaming from his eyes as he cried like a baby. John realized that Vernon had never seen actual combat. He pointed the gun at the other knee.

"Please, no!" Vernon held up his hand, but John would have none of it. He fired, hitting the other knee, causing Vernon to howl with pain.

"You'll pay for every second you've been her life, you son of bitch!" He then fired repeatedly until the pistol overheated. He waited for it to cool and then fired again until it overheated. Vernon was dead by now, but John repeated the process ten more times before laying the gun down and cradling his unconscious mother. Vernon had bled out by the time the police and EMTs finally arrived. They got his mother onto a gurney, Vernon into a body bag, and John into cuffs and the back of a squad car, where he sat for what seemed an eternity.

The lead cop finally opened up the car and reached in and removed John's cuffs. "I came to this house way too many times to hold this against you, son. Your mom's a good lady; I'll do what I can for you, but be prepared; it's gonna be a bumpy ride."

"Thank you, sir," John replied softly. "I just want her safe. If she's safe, then it's worth it."

"I understand son."

John held in his tears. He refused to be like Vernon; a crybaby who could dish it out without being able to take it. He resolutely vowed to take his punishment like a man, even though he was only thirteen.

 **Omega, 2185 –** Miranda and Jacob barely caught up to Shepard before the Elcor doorman admitted him to Afterlife to meet with Aria T'Loak. With Mordin recruited and the plague virus stopped, Shepard finally made meeting Aria a priority, as Cerberus had no solid intel on Archangel's location.

"They're with me," Shepard barked as the doorman began to stop them.

"Very well," the Elcor said in his monotone voice. "Your friends may enter with you. Enjoy your visit."

Shepard did not even pause to see if the doorman had heard him; he simply kept right on going, leaving the doorman talking to himself. Miranda nodded to the doorman and followed Shepard inside, Jacob close behind her. They found that he had been delayed by a gang of Batarians who seemed intent on heckling him.

"What are you looking at, human?" Their leader interposed himself between Shepard and the entry to Afterlife.

Shepard grabbed the Batarian by the collar and thrust his pistol into the hapless alien's throat. "The face of the man whose day I'm about to ruin," the commander growled.

"We … we're not looking for trouble," the Batarian pled.

"Yeah? Well maybe I am." In spite of his ominous threat, he let the alien go, the Batarians quickly moved on, probably looking for an easier target.

Miranda approved of Shepard's firm treatment of them, though she imagined that it was not their Batarian race, but the fact that they were bullies that drew Shepard's menacing response. She noted that he really disliked bullies, as his earlier demonstration with the guard at the slum district revealed. _Batarian scum_ , she thought. _I would have preferred it if he'd shot them_. He must have noticed her smiling in spite of herself, because he turned and commented.

"I don't get you, Miranda. You make a speech when I question the hiring of Zaeed, but you're all smiles and cheer when I took my frustrations out on those Batarians."

"Like yourself, I have a fairly unpleasant history with Batarians," she explained. "I knew their type; the hate humans. We'd end up in the hold of a slave ship, courtesy of punks like them, if we weren't strong. And sometimes, the rough approach is the right one."

His response was unexpected. "Yeah, well … thanks. I was a bit … harsh with you back there. Jacob's right; you invested two years of your life in bringing me back. I owe you the benefit of the doubt."

"Thank you, Shepard. You know, even if I don't agree with you, it's rare to find people who don't just dig in their heels and just try to win when things get heated. And for the record, I'm sorry too." She extended her hand. "Friends?"

"Friends," he said, shaking her hand. "Now, let's get in and visit Aria and see what she can tell us about Archangel."

 **2168 –** It took a year for John Amell to work his way through the juvenile justice system. Because of the circumstances of his murder of Lieutenant Vernon, and his youth, the now fourteen year old John Amell was found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. It seemed that Vernon's treatment of Hannah Amell was known to the Corps, and the marines treated John's killing of Vernon as defense of Hannah, who was one of their own. Even Vernon's family had little to say in his defense, other than that he deserved a trial and not to be killed in an act of vigilante justice.

John was now at home and placed under house arrest, an ankle bracelet tracking his movement. Hannah had undergone reconstructive surgery and did not look the same; the damage to her facial bones had been too great for them to restore her to her former appearance. But with a new look came another change, one he considered a welcome one.

Hannah Amell had returned from her trip, the last of the paperwork finished. She joined him at the kitchen table, motioning him to take a break from his studies. He turned off the data pad and focused on his mother.

"Everything go well?"

"Yes, John. At long last it's official; I am now Hannah Shepard. Though not married, I'm proud to call myself _Mrs._ Hannah Shepard. And you, young man, are now John Shepard!"


	7. Chapter 7: Archangel

**Chapter 7 – Archangel**

Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob had just finished fighting their way through the freelancers and had made their way across the bridge and into Archangel's hideout. Shepard half expected Archangel to be hostile, but instead, they walked right in without so much as an errant look from the vigilante. In fact, Archangel seemed content to have them at his back as he lined up a shot and took out another one of the mercs. With the merc dead, Archangel calmly turned around and folded up his rifle.

He was Turian, and tall even by Turian standards. Covered head to toe in navy blue and black armor, Archangel was an impressive and imposing figure. Unlike Zaeed, Shepard had a good feeling about him. And then he removed his helmet and sat down.

"Shepard … I thought you were dead."

"Garrus!" Shepard greeted his old friend, amazed to find that Garrus Vakarian had become Archangel. "What are you doing here?"

"Just keeping my skills sharp; a little target practice."

"You okay?" A lot had happened to Garrus over the past two years, Shepard could tell. Gone was the bright eyed, gung ho, ready to take on the world rookie cop. In its place was a hardened mercenary, on whose face showed two years of war weary experience.

"Been better, but it sure is good to see a friendly face." Garrus looked and sounded worn out. "Killing mercs is hard work, especially on my own."

Shepard was glad to see a friendly face too, but Garrus' presence as a vigilante in the Terminus Systems raised a lot of questions. "What are you doing out here on Omega?"

"I got fed up with all the bureaucratic crap on the Citadel. Figured I could do more good on my own."

It seemed that everyone was telling the same stories about the Alliance and the Citadel; red tape and bureaucracy trumping anything of import. Garrus was never one for red tape, and often chafed at procedure, but it seemed that 'procedure' now meant maintaining the status quo and not rocking the boat.

"At least it's not hard to find criminals here," Garrus continued. "All I have to do is point my gun and shoot."

"How'd you manage to piss off ever major merc organization in the Terminus Systems?"

"It wasn't easy," Garrus replied. "I _really_ had to work at it. I am amazed that they teamed up to fight me. They must really hate me."

Shepard figured that Garrus had truly outdone himself. "Since when did you start calling yourself Archangel?"

"It's just a name the locals gave me," he explained. "For all my good deeds. I don't mind it, but please … it's just Garrus to you."

There was a lot more to this story than they had time to go into, and Shepard hoped to hear it all back on the Normandy. "Well, we got here, but I don't think getting out will be as easy."

"No, it won't," Garrus agreed. "That bridge has saved my life. Funneling all those witless idiots into scope, but it works both ways; they'll slaughter us if we try to get out that way."

Miranda was exasperated "So we just sit here and wait for them to take us out?" Her interjection drew a smile from Shepard, as if to say, 'wait and see what we can do,' but this did not reassure her. Nor did Garrus' reply.

"It's not all that bad," Garrus soothed. "This place has held them off so far. And with the three of you …" Garrus stood and walked to the window to assess the situation. "I suggest we hold this location, wait for a crack in their defenses, and take our chances. It's not a perfect plan, but it's a plan."

Thankfully, even Shepard seemed to question Garrus' assessment. "How did you let yourself get into this position?"

"My feelings got in the way of my better judgement," Garrus lamented. "It's a long story. I'll make you a deal; you get me out of here alive, and I'll tell you the whole damn thing."

"I didn't like sneaking anyway," Shepard consoled. "Time to spill a little merc blood."

"Glad to see you haven't changed," Garrus laughed.

Miranda had heard stories of how in spite of his image as a paragon, Shepard had an almost Krogan like love of battle. Apparently, the stories were true, and she was not sure how to feel about it.

"Let's see what they're up to," Garrus said, going to the window, carful to take cover, and looking through the scope of his Mantis sniper rifle at the bridge. "Hmm. Looks like they know their infiltration team failed." Then he handed Shepard the Mantis. "Take a look. Scouts; Eclipse, I think."

Shepard took the rifle and looked through the scope. He fired, taking the head cleanly off of one of the mechs. "More than scouts. One less now, though."

"Indeed," Garrus agreed. "We'd better get ready. I'll stay up here. I can do a lot of damage from this vantage point. You? You can do what you do best." Miranda could have sworn that Garrus was smiling when he added, "Just like old times, Shepard."

 **2168 –** John Shepard answered the door, half expecting his case worker. Instead, he was greeted by none other than Rear Admiral Hackett. His mother had spoken of Hackett more than once, and the man had appeared in a few photos with both of his parents. While John recognized him right away, he had no idea what the man was doing at their home. John was not sure what else to do, so he saluted him.

"John Shepard," Hackett said in a low, gravelly voice, returning John's salute. "May I come in?"

"Yes, sir." John moved aside and let the admiral enter, calling for his mother.

Hannah Shepard seemed to be expecting the visit. "Admiral Hackett, good of you to drop by." She motioned for them to both to take a seat in the living room and then went to the kitchen for drinks. Once she had served the admiral a bourbon and John a lemonade, she joined them, sitting next to him.

"How are feeling, John?" The admiral's query was unexpected.

"Fine, I guess, sir."

"Do you know why I'm here?"

"No, sir."

"You've taken a lot of tests, both in school, and in the process of going through your legal issues," the admiral explained. "Your scores indicate that you'd be an ideal soldier. Now some of my colleagues, particularly one Captain Mikhailovich, disagree with my assessment, but I'm betting that you'll prove me right."

"Sir?"

"John, the Alliance needs good men; men who know what it means to sacrifice for the people they're sworn to protect. People who know that in order to maintain our freedom, sacrifices need to be made … and sometimes, people need to die. I won't sugar coat it. You're looking at years in juvenile correctional facilities, ruining any chance of you being able to really make it. What I'm offering you is an alternative."

"I'm listening." Shepard was not sure he liked where this was going.

"I've arranged for you, if you accept, to attend the new Alliance Military At Risk Youth Academy. It's for kids like you, who ended up doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. From there, you can begin a career as a soldier."

"Join the military or go to juvie," Shepard replied. "Not much of a choice. Only one question; will my mom be alright?"

"If you are willing to go to the academy," she said, "I've been offered an opportunity to serve in the fleet again. You know what an honor it is; you practically grew up in the fleet."

"She'll be in with good people, John, I promise you that. The XO is a good man; Commander David Anderson. He'll keep the riff-raff in line, don't you worry."

"Alright, sir. I'll go to the academy."

"You made the right decision, son," Hackett said. "I know, don't ask me how, but I know that one day, you will do great things in the Alliance, maybe even serve in the Fleet."

"I want to be a marine, sir."

"Then you'd better start training hard, son."

 **Omega, 2185 –** In less than an hour, Shepard and Garrus had dismantled most of the mercs. While Jacob and Miranda killed their fair share, Miranda could not help but feel like they were just along for the ride. On Freedom's Progress, all they had to do was shoot down a few rogue mechs. On Omega, Shepard had taken down the Blood Pack to get Mordin's cure into the ventilation systems, and had stood with Garrus against not only the Blood Pack, but also Eclipse and the Blue Suns. Freedom's Progress was just a warmup; on Omega, the commander faced much greater odds and heavy resistance, but he made it all look easy. He was, in fact, virtually unstoppable.

Only after Shepard had cleared the lower levels had he come to Garrus rescue when Tarek fired rockets from a gunship into the building. Shepard, without missing a beat, took down the remaining mercs and the gunship, clearing the way for them to escape, a badly wounded Garus Vakarian in tow.

Upon return to the Normandy, Chakwas and Mordin got to work on Garrus, as Shepard plotted a course for Zorya to take care of the captured Eldfel-Ashland refinery. Their recruitment of Mordin, Zaeed, and Garrus represented major progress in building the team. Doctor Chakwas seemed confident that Garrus would not only make a full recovery, but would do so quickly enough to be of use on this mission. With the course locked in, the crew would be in transit for hours, and with three of their team recruited, Miranda had some breathing room. _Time to try to tackle Shepard_.

Kelly Chambers sat across from Commander Shepard, pondering his request for information about Miranda. There was a lot that she could tell him about Miranda based on personal observation that would not break confidentiality rules, but facing Miranda's wrath if she ever found out was something Kelly had no desire to do. On the other hand, there was no refusing John Shepard. She had fervently hoped that his interest in her was more than just professional, but it seemed that professional was the extent of it … and it was Miranda he was asking about.

"Okay, Commander, I have to be very careful about what I reveal to you, but honestly, I have not had a lot of one on one time with Operative Lawson."

"Fair enough," he conceded. "In that case, just give me your observations on her."

"Sir?" She wondered if he wanted her personal observations or her professional opinion.

"Kelly, let's be frank; Miranda and you have dug into my background without my consent. I _know_ you make observations about me and report them to the Illusive Man, so don't act like what you see and what's said to you stays with you. It's important to me, and I'll get the information I need one way or another. I like you, so I wanted to do you the courtesy of coming to you directly … but I can go around you if I need to."

Kelly gulped audibly. Shepard was a Spectre, and that meant that he could hack into her files and obtain her notes without any kind of authorization or warrants if she were regular civilian. As a member of Cerberus, he had carte blanche from both the Council and the Alliance to go even further. And it was well known that Shepard had the skills to do so. Although she doubted that he would be heavy handed with her, she maintained a healthy amount of fear and respect for the man who took down Saren, Sovereign, Lady Benezia, numerous crime-lords, and a sizable chunk of Cerberus' military operations two years ago.

"Very well, sir; what would you like to know?"

 **2166 –** Miranda had spent only two months running from her father, but her resources were already at their limits. Even with powerful biotics, a 200 IQ, and the best education and training that money could buy, she knew that her father would win out if she stayed by herself. She needed a plan … Oriana needed a plan. The little girl's gestation period was nearly at an end, and she would need to come out of the gestation chamber and receive care. Her father had funded a pro human group called Cerberus, and while it was a risk, she knew a few people in the organization through him.

As her skycar landed at the Binary Helix offices in Ontario, she was met by a contingency of security guards, technicians, and two executives. Not good, she thought, crossing her fingers and hoping that her Father was not already in contact with them, before stepping out of the skycar, her hands raised partway.

"I'm unarmed," she announced. "I have an appointment with …"

"Jack Harper," one of the men said, stepping forward and offering his hand. "You can relax, Miranda; these men are here for your protection, and that of your sister. Welcome to Binary Helix. Now, let us step inside; we have much to discuss, and this is not a conversation that should take place on the rooftop."

The technicians removed Oriana's gestation pod as Jack Harper escorted Miranda to a private conference room. She hoped that she was doing the right thing, but it did not matter; she was out of options. She took a long last look at the technicians carrying Oriana.

"Where are they taking her?"

"To a pediatric med bay," Harper assured. "After our meeting, I'll take you to see her. I've even found a promising family to adopt her, as per your stated wishes on the matter."

"Thank you!" That was a relief … assuming that he was being honest with her.

He stopped at the conference room and held the door for her, gesturing for her to enter first. She went in and took a seat at the table, as Harper closed the door and sat across from her. He offered her water, which she gratefully took, and waited for her to get comfortable before beginning.

"It is fortuitous that you've contacted us, Miranda. In fact, I've had my eye on you for some time."

"Me? I'm just a teenager!"

"Not just any teenager," he corrected. "You have the skills and talents that humanity needs. More than that, you have the intellect and the vision. Cerberus needs people like you, Miranda; people who know that doing the right thing can mean sacrifice and hardship. You threw away a life of comfort because you knew that your father was wrong; that his vision was limited and misguided. And you did this for the benefit of another, your sister. I've sacrificed more than you can imagine, and I respect you for what you've done."

"Thank you, sir."

"Let's get down to business, Miranda." Harper poured himself a glass of bourbon. "I'm the one they call the Illusive Man. I know you were expecting an intermediary, but you're special, and want to bring you in personally. You have top level training, but we can take you further. Your sister will be placed with a loving and caring family, one that will nurture her and enable her to reach her full potential, but you? You're destined for greatness, Miranda." He paused and took a drink of his bourbon, savoring it. "It's not something I often say, but you're an exceptional girl."

"What do you ask in return?"

"Nothing."

Miranda was shocked. "Nothing? You mean I can just walk away right now, and you'll do as you say for Ori?"

"It does me no good to swindle you, Miranda, and if you are not interested in working for me, then forcing you to is in neither of our best interests." He removed a cigarette from his pocket and lit up, taking a long drag. Exhaling the smoke, he continued. "I'm offering this to you because I see greatness in you, not to hold it over your head. You've got to _want_ to be here, Miranda."

"Very well, then," she replied. "I want to be here. I want to use these gifts that my father gave me for something that matters!"

"Then welcome aboard, Miranda. Believe me, you won't regret it."

 **2185 –** Garrus lay unconscious on one of the beds in the Normandy's med bay, Shepard seated next to him. He had no doubt that Garrus would pull through, but hated to see his friend like this. He deserved a triumphant victory, walking away with us, not carried out by us. Damn mercs. He paused to consider that Zaeed, who resided one deck below, was likely cut from the same cloth as the mercs who had cornered Garrus. Shepard still did not know the full story on how Garrus had come to be cornered in a compound at the end of a bridge, but that could wait for later.

"Stay strong, Garrus," he implored. Then he turned to Doctor Chakwas who had joined him at Garrus' bedside. "Do what you can for him, Doctor."

"Believe me, I will, Commander. You have my word." Just then, the door opened, and Miranda entered the medbay. "I'll leave the two of you to visit Garrus," Chakwas added. "I'll be operating in less than an hour, so don't take too long." She then left the med bay, allowing Shepard and Miranda some privacy.

"How is he?" Miranda stood beside Shepard, both of them looking at the unconscious Turian.

"He'll live," Shepard affirmed. "But he'll have some battle scars."

"I don't think he'll mind."

Miranda was trying to be assuring, and Shepard appreciated the effort. He did not have the heart to tell her that she really did not know Garrus well enough to be making comments like that. And even if she was his Miri, which he strongly suspected she was, they had been apart long enough that she really did not know Shepard well enough to be making comments like that about one of his closest friends.

"Yeah, he'll make the most of it," he replied, choosing to receive her words in the spirit in which she intended them.

"I was impressed by you on Omega." The comment was seemingly out of the blue. "You handle yourself very well over a multitude of situations, ranging from the diplomatic to grueling combat. When you and Garrus began working together, I finally saw what you've been trying to get us to see."

"Oh?"

"Your team, Shepard; there's a magic there, a synergy. It was … something special that can't just be duplicated by plugging in professionals, no matter how competent they may be. Cerberus never did understand you … and neither did I." She laughed mirthlessly. "I thought I knew you inside and out simply because I rebuilt you. Oh, how wrong I was."

"You know, the synergy of my old team took time to build," he consoled. "You and Jacob? I think the three of us are building that special magic you talked about. With Garrus, it'll be even better. Still don't know how Mordin will factor in, and Zaeed's not the sort I would have chosen, but everyone has a part to play in this drama that has yet to be revealed."

Miranda returned to her cabin troubled by Shepard's words. Shepard had been through a lot, and she was certain that his comment about everyone's part being yet to be revealed was more than just an expression. On the surface, he meant to be encouraging, but there was an element of warning underlying his words that she did not want to ignore.

There were elements in play that she had no control over; Tali, though she had not signed on, was a factor, and she may come into play later on; Ashley Williams, Shepard's old XO, was out there, and nobody seemed to know where; and even the Illusive Man himself. Then there were Shepard's other team mates; Liara T'Soni and Urdnot Wrex. Somehow, Miranda was certain that they would all factor into this mission, but she could not fathom how, and that terrified her.

She remembered when working with the Illusive Man had been like working with Shepard, and only now that Shepard was her CO did she notice the change that had come over the Illusive Man since meeting him all those years ago. Cerberus had been an ideal, but now, it seemed that the Illusive Man had become a victory at any cost type of leader, and it had rubbed off on Miranda.

 _If only I could return to that simpler time … before I knew what my Father was … John and I taking on our little world …_ But it was not to be. She wondered what he was doing at this very moment. Was he thinking of her? She hoped so.

watch?v=IA4_Mpa0WyY

Story and romance: watch?v=wyUxqYElZe4


	8. Chapter 8: Rescue and Revenge

**Chapter 8: Rescue and Revenge**

Zaeed Massani's services had come with one string attached: a mission to the planet Zorya, in the Ismar Frontier, where Blue Suns leader, Vido Santiago had enslaved the workers at an Eldfel-Ashland refinery. Eldfel-Ashland was paying Massani and any team he put together to drive out the Suns, secure the refinery, and free the workers. Simple enough, and the idea of freeing captured human civilians was appealing to both Shepard and Miranda.

Along the way, they stopped off in the nearby Elysta system, landing on the planet Zeona to pick up the Hammerhead Rover from the downed MSV Rosalie. This was part of another Cerberus operation, Project Firewalker. As Doctors Cayce and O'Loy were gathering data on the Protheans, both agreed that it would be appropriate to lend the Normandy's aid, as the leads might also coincide with their own mission.

With the Hammerhead Rover secured, they went to Zorya to free the refinery workers. Once there, Zaeed went completely off the rails, causing an explosion that opened the front gate, but also started a major fire, trapping the very workers that they had been sent to free. Zaeed apparently had been Santiago's business partner and co-founder of the Suns, but somewhere along the way, their business relationship had soured and Santiago shot Massani in the head and left him for dead.

Somehow, Massani had survived, and was out for revenge. To him, this mission was merely a vehicle to obtain that revenge, and when it became apparent that they now had to not only take out the Suns, but rescue the workers, Massani was adamant that they ignore the workers and concentrate on Vido, leaving the workers to burn to death. Shepard could not believe it. Putting aside loyalty, Shepard and Miranda both agreed that the workers, all human, came before Santiago's thugs.

They succeeded, both saving the workers, securing the facility and killing all of the Suns, but Vido got away, taunting on the loudspeaker.

"Not this time, Zaeed, you son of a bitch. See you in another twenty years!"

Zaeed ran ahead of Shepard as Vido's gunship took off, shouting and firing his rifle until the thermal clip overheated, and still, he held the trigger down, the Vindicator rifle clicking futilely. Shepard calmly walked to stand beside the raging merc as the gunship disappeared over the horizon. Zaeed rattled the gun, finally ejecting the thermal clip and quickly loading a fresh clip. He then turned the gun on Shepard, who had drawn his own pistol faster than Zaeed could get his rifle trained.

Zaeed's face was a mask of rage. "You just cost me twenty years of my life!"

 _This won't end well_ , Miranda thought.

Zaeed and Shepard stood with guns drawn, but before the standoff went on any longer, an explosion caught Zaeed's attention. The blast was set off by Zaeed's spent thermal clip, which he had carelessly tossed into a pool of flammable liquid. The veteran merc turned to look, just in time to see a large chunk of debris hurtling toward them. Shepard got out of the way, but Zaeed was struck, his legs trapped under a large piece of a wall section.

"Son of a bitch! Argh!" Amazingly, he was still alive and had plenty of hot air left to spout.

"You started this fire, Zaeed," Shepard scolded. "It makes sense you'll burn in it."

"Yeah, screw you!" Zaeed was defiant, but not at the cost of his own life. "Now come on; get me out of this shithole!"

Miranda shook her head in disgust. The man was about to shoot at Shepard mere seconds ago, and was now demanding help. Not that Zaeed would have survived; she was certain that had Zaeed tried to pull the trigger, Shepard would have gotten his shot off first, and killed the merc before his shot was fired.

Shepard knelt down a few feet away from the pinned merc. "I'm not sure I need a man like you on my ship."

"If you didn't need me," a pained Zaeed replied through gritted teeth, "Cerberus wouldn't have paid my fee. I'll do what I was paid to do; nothing more, nothing less."

 _That's all we wanted in the first place_ , Miranda thought.

When Shepard remained silent, Zaeed added, "Now stop screwing around, and let's go!"

Shepard stood and took a few steps back, and Miranda was convinced that the commander meant to leave the merc to die.

"You put your own goals ahead of the mission," Shepard admonished. "That's not the way this works."

"I've survived this long watching my own back," Zaeed countered. "No time to worry about anyone else."

"You still don't get it," Miranda spat, folding her arms and looking down at him with disdain. "Your actions put innocent lives, not to mention our own, in jeopardy! This little side mission was clearly defined; we free the enslaved workers from the Blue Suns. Instead, the refinery is a total loss, and the workers would all be dead were it not for Shepard and I."

Before Zaeed could reply, Shepard walked over to the merc and pointed his Carnifex pistol at Zaeed's head. Miranda's heart practically stopped. _Oh my God! Shepard's going to execute him!_

"You're part of a team now, Zaeed." Shepard then, in one quick motion, reversed his grip on the gun so that he held it by the barrel, offering the stock to Zaeed. "There's no way we can do this unless we're all working together."

"You … you have a point," Zaeed conceded, now looking down, almost as though he were embarrassed as Shepard holstered his pistol. "I'm not done with Vido, but I can put that behind me long enough to get your mission done."

Shepard lifted the concrete slab as though he were lifting a sofa, tossing it aside, where it landed with a heavy thud.

"Let's get the hell out of here," Zaeed said, walking to the shuttle.

"Touch son of a bitch," Jacob gasped.

Miranda was amazed that the merc could even stand, let alone walk, but she was more amazed that Shepard had been able to convince the insane merc to put his personal issues aside and work towards the good of the mission. She still was not convinced that Massani was a good fit, but Shepard seemed to have earned the old merc's respect.

Miranda did not say much on the trip back to the Normandy, but once they disembarked from the shuttle and Zaeed was out of earshot, she pulled Shepard aside.

"I thought for sure you'd have killed him," she said. "And if you had, I'd have backed you up a hundred percent. That man's a bloody menace."

"Yeah," agreed Shepard. "Hopefully, he can stow it until your Illusive Man finds a way through the Omega-4 Relay."

"Not my Illusive Man," she corrected. "He's our Illusive Man."

"I'm afraid we'll have agree to disagree on that one," replied Shepard, refusing to argue over semantics.

"Fair enough," she conceded. "But yes, if he can save his rage and hate for the Collectors, then I can live with him. I must say, Shepard, I was very impressed when you stood up to him, did the job, and then kept his loyalty. Not many leaders could have done that; you did."

"Thanks, Miranda," he said cheerfully. "That means a lot."

With Zaeed now fully invested, Shepard intended to pay Garrus a visit. He was exited the lift and was met by Jacob Taylor, waited expectantly for him.

"Commander, you got a minute?"

"Sure Jacob; let's talk in the debriefing room."

Taylor followed him out of the CIC and into the quiet of the conference area, which also housed the ship's quantum entanglement communications.

"It's about Garrus, sir. Doctor Chakwas asked me to fill you in."

"Go on." Shepard had visited Garrus to check in twice, but he had been unconscious both times. He hoped that things had not taken a turn for the worse.

"Commander, we've done what we could for Garrus, but he took a bad hit. The doc's corrected with surgical procedures and some cybernetics. Best we can tell, he'll have full functionality, but …"

The sound of the door sliding open caught Jacob's attention, the operative and Shepard turning to look as Garrus strode into the room, tall and straight, having already donned his damaged armor. The Turian's face was badly scarred on the right side, the right mandible being particularly scored.

"Shepard," Garrus said as he joined the conversation.

"Tough son of a bitch," Jacob exclaimed with admiration. "Didn't think he'd be up yet!"

Garrus shook his head in frustration. "Nobody would give me a mirror. How bad is it?"

"Hell Garrus, you were always ugly," Shepard joked. "Slap some face paint on there and no one will even notice."

"Ha, ah." Garrus began laughing, but it pained him. "Don't make me laugh, damn it. My face is barely holding together as it is." He shook his head again. "Just as well; the women were always passing you over and hitting on me. You'll finally have a chance for a change."

Jacob laughed in spite of himself, and then saluted Shepard, leaving the Commander and Garrus to catch up. Once Jacob had left and the door closed, Garrus' tone turned more serious.

"Frankly, I'm more worried about you. Cerberus, Shepard? You remember those sick experiments they were doing?"

Shepard shook his head, knowing exactly what Garrus was talking about. But he had no choice in the matter. "The Collectors are wiping out human colonies, Garrus. Nobody else cares enough to stop it."

"I can't argue with that," the Turian conceded. "Hard to believe the Council is letting the attacks go unanswered, though. Damn politicians. I'm fit for duty whenever you need me, Shepard. I'll settle in and see what I can do at the forward batteries."

Illusive Man was still no closer to finding a way through the Omega-4 Relay, so Shepard made the executive decision to focus on the Firewalker missions. It proved to be a good thing, too; the Geth were involved, which meant that the Reapers were somehow connected. It seemed that the Geth, as well as the Blue Suns, were shadowing the survey team. As it turned out, one of the doctors, O'Loy, had sold out to the Collectors in order to buy safety for the planet where his wife lived. Both doctors had ended up dead; O'Loy at Doctor Cayce's hands after Cayce caught him sending their position to the Geth, and then Cayce by his own hands. His last recordings mentioned that he was hearing voices in his head; he was in the early stages of indoctrination, and was determined to destroy the Prothean relic they had found. He managed to kill himself, but the voices would not let him destroy the artifact. Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob recovered the sphere, capturing data from it when it flashed a brief, but intense transmission at their approach.

The Blue Suns had gotten involved in the Firewalker missions as well, after hijacking a ship and stealing the records of the mission. Shepard shut down several Blue Suns sites, finally recovering another Prothean artifact from one of them. Vido Santiago's name was in many of the communiques Shepard managed to intercept. He could see why Zaeed wanted so badly to kill the man, though he refused to sacrifice those workers; Zaeed had gone way too far with that. Still, by the time all was said and done, Shepard had put a serious dent in Santiago's operations, much to Zaeed's satisfaction.

After the Firewalker missions were done, they went on to Korlus recruit Warlord Okeer. Okeer was something rare: a Krogan geneticist. Okeer had also had dealings with the Collectors, and the hope was that he would have information that would help Shepard's team in their mission. Okeer was holed up in a Blue Suns base run by Jedore. By the time Shepard had arrived, Jedore realized that she had been duped by Okeer, who was supposed to be breeding an army of Krogan for her, but instead simply used her resources along with the tech he got from the Collectors to manufacture one perfect Krogan. Somehow, Rana Thanoptis, one of Saren's Asari henchmen, had gotten involved in helping Okeer as a warped way to redeem herself.

Shepard, along with Miranda and Jacob, ended up fighting and killing Jedore and the Blue Suns while Okeer died saving his Krogan creation from the gas deployed by Jedore. After bringing the tank to the Normandy, both Shepard and Miranda considered the mission a bust, though the Krogan in the tank may prove useful in the fight against the Collectors.

Once he awakened the Krogan, who called himself Grunt, Shepard had to use force and intimidation to let him know that Shepard was the pack leader and that Grunt was to fall in line. A powerful biotic with programmed weapons knowledge and skills, and the most physically impressive member of the team, Grunt could be a huge asset, but only if he were with the program.

From Korlus, they then went to the Osun System in the Hourglass Nebula to rendezvous with the Purgatory, a Blue Suns operated prison ship. Shepard was really getting sick of the Blue Suns. They were paid by Cerberus for Jack, but instead of releasing her, they tried to capture Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob. The three mowed their way through the Blue Suns with little effort and finally freed Jack, who turned out to be the most powerful human biotic in history. Jack went on a rampage that ultimately would destroy the Purgatory, while the three of them killed the Blue Suns as they tried to catch up to Jack.

When they finally caught up with her and offered her a way off, Shepard found that Jack had a very negative history with Cerberus and refused to leave the soon to be destroyed Purgatory with them.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Jack said icily.

"I'm offering to be your friend," said Shepard, frustrated at this point with the whole thing. "You _don't_ want to be my enemy."

"Yeah," added Jacob. "They have a way of ending up dead."

"You show up in a Cerberus frigate to take me somewhere," she replied. "You think I'm stupid?"

"This ship is going down in flames. I've got the only way out. I'm offering to take you with me … and you're arguing." Shepard's inference that Jack was indeed stupid was impossible to miss.

"We could just knock her out and take her," offered Miranda, also frustrated with Jack at this point.

"I'd like to see you try," challenged Jack.

"We're not gonna attack her," said Shepard, dispelling any notions of forcibly kidnapping Jack.

"Good move," agreed Jack. "Look, you want me to come with you, make it worth my while."

"Join my team and I'll do what I can for you," Shepard offered.

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Jack warned. "I bet your ship's got lots of Cerberus databases. I want to look at those files; see what Cerberus has got on me. You want me on your team, let me go through those databases."

"I'll give you full access," said Shepard without hesitation.

Miranda became flustered, shocked by Shepard's offer. "Shepard, you're not authorized to do that!"

Jacob's eyes went wide; this was going to be a serious confrontation later, but Shepard did not back down.

"Ooh, it upsets the Cheerleader," sneered Jack. "Even better." Then she got close to Shepard and pointed her finger at his chest, though she did not have the temerity to actually poke him. "You better be straight with me," she warned.

Shepard just nodded.

"So why the hell are we standing here?" asked Jack.

"Move out," Shepard ordered.

Once aboard, things did not improve. Miranda tried to assert herself with Jack, but Jack wasn't having any of it. She told Shepard to get the "cheerleader" to back off, and then demanded file access.

"Miranda will let you into the system," said Shepard without hesitation. "Let me know what you find."

Miranda was livid. She thought that Shepard was coming around, but this? This was a betrayal, pure and simple.

"You hear that, precious?" taunted Jack. "We're going to be friends; you, me, and every embarrassing little secret."

Miranda did not even hear Jack's snide parting comments. As soon as the tattooed psycho was out of the room, she looked at Shepard with disgust and shook her head. She was about to leave, but suddenly turned around and confronted him.

"How could you do that to me?" she shouted. "I rebuilt you! I know you don't like Cerberus, but I figured that counted for something!"

"Will you relax, Miranda?"

"Relax? How?" She could not believe him. "You just … handed over our files to her! I know you're not Cerberus, but dammit, Shepard, I am! I know were not friends, but … dammit! I thought we could at least work well professionally!"

"Miranda," he said somewhat patronizingly, "I had to make you the bad cop in this; you really _are_ Cerberus. But if you think I'm just giving her full access, you don't know me very well."

"What are you saying?" She eyed him cautiously.

"I'm sorry to make you the heel, but it worked; you performed to a tee. I'd have given you a heads up, but you and Jacob wouldn't leave Jack's side. While you were getting her into the conference room, I had EDI set up some Cerberus databases. Nothing on Jack that I don't have access to, but nothing that will compromise your organization."

"So, you … tricked her?"

"Partly," he said. "I already figured out what she's after; she spouted on about it so much in the shuttle that I was able to put it together pretty easily. She wants information on Pragia, where she was kept. The facility is abandoned, so no harm in giving it up. There's enough there to keep her from seeing through my little ruse, but nothing that's truly sensitive, though Edi made sure that it looks like top level intel. I'll send you a copy of everything I gave her."

Suddenly, EDI's words rang in her ears: "He is a Spectre." It was hard to trust and then see her trust seemingly betrayed, but she had to admit that it was the perfect way to get Jack's cooperation. She truly wished that she had been given more information on the biotic prodigy. She did not even know Jack's gender prior to the mission, much less the woman's history with Cerberus. It was almost as though the Illusive Man intentionally let them find out on their own.

"Alright, Shepard," she said, her anger subsiding. "I'll trust you on this."

"Yeah," said Shepard. "Oh, just a reminder; it wasn't my idea to bring an L5 biotic into the enclosed space that is the Normandy. I'll take credit for Grunt, but Grunt doesn't have it in for you and Cerberus; Jack does. I'm willing to humor her, or at least appear to do so, in the interest of unit cohesion."

"Good point," she conceded. "Shepard, I didn't know that she was an L5. Or even a 'she' for that matter, and I certainly didn't know her history with us."

"I know," he replied, his expression clouding. "And that worries me more than you know."

The two of them left the conference room calmer than when they had entered. As she walked to the lift, she heard Kelly call out to Shepard.

"Commander, the Illusive man would like to speak with you in the conference room."

"Duty calls. We'll talk later."

Shepard turned around and went back to the conference room as Miranda stepped into the lift, ordering it to the crew deck. As she returned to her cabin, Shepard's ominous words played over and over in her mind. Why was this information not given to them prior to picking up Jack? It would have really helped them. Miranda may have stayed on the ship and let Garrus and Mordin join the Commander; it certainly would have made getting Jack aboard easier. She had no ready answers, but she had a sinking feeling that she would learn the truth sooner than later.


	9. Chapter 9: Horizon

**Chapter 9: Horizon**

The Illusive Man's image materialized as the conference table descended into the floor and Shepard stepped onto what was now the QEC communications pad. The man was seated against a backdrop of stars, taking a long, last drag on his cigarette before addressing Shepard.

"Shepard, I think we have them. Horizon, one of our colonies in the Terminus Systems – just went silent. If it isn't under attack, it soon will be. Has Mordin delivered the countermeasure for the seeker swarms?"

"Not yet."

"Let's hope he works well under pressure. There's something else you should know." The Illusive Man paused and took another long drag on his cigarette. "One of your former crew, Ashley Williams – she's stationed on Horizon."

Shepard knew that this was no coincidence. "The Collectors just happen to pick a colony with one of my former crew? I don't buy it."

The Illusive Man took another drag, making Shepard to think that he was considerably stressed. "It shouldn't be a surprise that the Collectors are interested in you." He then crushed out the cigarette. "Especially if they're working for the Reapers. They might be going after her to get to you."

Shepard had always felt that something was off about the Illusive Man. Suddenly, he saw it; the eyes were artificial, and the faint glow was not an anomaly of the QEC. _I'll worry about that later_ , he thought.

"Last I knew, Ash was Alliance. Why is she out in the Terminus Systems?"

"Officially, it's an outreach program to improve Alliance relations with the colonies, but they're up to something. And if they sent Chief Williams, it must be big. Perhaps you should take it up with her."

 _Believe me, I will_ , he thought. "Send the coordinates. We'll head straight there."

"This is the most warning we've had, Shepard. Good luck." The Illusive Man then reached out and ended the link with a handheld remote, a chirp sounding just before the picture faded to black.

Shepard activated his own communicator. "Joker, set a course for Horizon. I've got to go see the professor."

"Aye, aye, Commander.

The tip on Horizon being next was questionable at best as far as Shepard was concerned, but the prospect of seeing his old friend, Ashley, had cheered him. He hoped that she would join him, or at least be an ally. But what was she doing out here? The Illusive Man seemed to think that it was more than just participation in Alliance outreach to the colonies. Colonial outreach was hardly anything classified, but Anderson would not tell him even that. The indicator was that the Illusive Man was right; Ashley was out here for something else, something secret. He decided that this mission needed Garrus. The Turian had recovered, and was ready to get out and get some action, and Shepard really looked forward to having some semblance of his old team together.

At the same time, the mission was about stopping the Collectors, and he need to be fully prepared to face them head on. This would be a trial by fire for Mordin's countermeasure; if it did not work, they would have no choice but to abandon the mission, and that was assuming that they survived long enough to do so. If the countermeasure worked, however, then the Collectors were about to meet their first real resistance since they began the abductions.

As the shuttle touched down, the three squad mates hit the ground running. The seeker swarms attempted to sting them, but were repelled by the modifications to their shields. Mordin's countermeasure was a resounding success. Shepard saw the Collector ship towering over the colony. It reminded him of seeing Sovereign looming over Eden Prime. The ship was certainly as big as Sovereign. But more importantly, now that he saw the ship, he knew one thing for certain: it was the Collectors who had destroyed the original Normandy.

For the first time since the investigation began, the true nature of their foes was now unfolding; first, they faced a force of Collectors and husks, virtually guaranteeing that the Collectors were working with the Reapers. The Collectors themselves were insectoid bipeds. They were no doubt terrifying to a colonist, but to Shepard, Garrus, and Miranda, they were just another foe to kill. After the first skirmish was over, they examined one of the husks. These husks were visibly more advanced than the ones he had faced in the battle against Saren and Sovereign. And while there were no Geth, he knew that the Geth were still a factor, though their part in this had not yet been revealed.

As they pressed further into the colony, they met their second wave of Collectors. They noticed that the husks had completely vanished from their ranks. While physically tough, the husks were unarmed. The Collectors were armed with particle beam rifles, making them much more of a threat. But it did not matter; Shepard refused to allow them even an inch of victory. He would fight his way to that ship and find some way to take it out, though at this point he had no idea how.

With the second wave dispatched, they encountered the frozen colonists and pods that the Collectors had been loading them into. He paused at one of the colonists, a woman on the ground who was recoiling in terror from what had likely been the seeker swarms. She was darker skinned, looking to be of either Indian or Pakistani decent. Her eyes were wide, filled with panic. As he looked her over, it soon became apparent that she was actually conscious, but unable to move. It seemed that all of the colonists were actually aware of their predicament.

"Just awful," exclaimed Miranda. "To be conscious and at their mercy … unthinkable!"

"When I'm done with them," growled Shepard, "the Collectors will know what it means to fear an implacable foe. Come on; the Collectors won't take one more colonist! Not on my watch!"

But the Collectors soon proved that they had more tricks up their sleeves than the first two waves had indicated. Now, an unseen entity made its presence known, not only directing the Collectors from afar, but also taking possession of individual Collectors. When a Collector was possessed, the entity would actually speak through it, saying,

"We are Harbinger." After which, it would taunt them, calling Shepard by name, saying, "This is what you face, Shepard."

 _They know who I am_ , he thought as he killed the possessed creature. It became clear that the Collectors were not unique individuals, but a collective, almost with a hive mentality. While possessed by "Harbinger," the individual Collector was much more powerful, its armor and shields enhanced, and its attacks much more powerful. It did not matter; Shepard killed each and every one.

They made their way to what looked like a garage or maintenance building, which they unlocked and entered, hoping to find more survivors. And this time, they actually found a survivor who was also not frozen, having hidden out in the building to evade the swarms. No doubt, Shepard's arrival had interrupted the Collectors' effort to abduct the colonists, as evinced by the many frozen people who still remained.

"What are you doing?" the man cried out. "You'll lead them right here!"

"You had to hear them try to get in," said Shepard. "It seems like it's hard to hide from the Collectors."

"Those things are Collectors?" asked the man. "You mean … they're real? I thought they were just made up. Propaganda, you know … to keep us in Alliance space." Then he panicked at the realization. "Oh no! They got Lilith! I saw her go down! Stan too! They got damn near everybody!"

"What's your name? What do you do here?" asked Shepard, trying to get an idea of who they were talking too.

"My name's Delan, mechanic," replied the man. "I came down here to check on the main grid after we lost our com signal. I heard screaming. I looked outside and there were swarms … of bugs. Everyone they touched just froze. I sealed the doors." Then he paused, shaking his head rapidly, a look of anger coming over his face. "Dammit, it's the Alliance's fault! They stationed that Chief Williams here and built those damn defense towers! It made us a target!"

 _She's here_ , he thought. _Ashley is here, and she can confirm that the Collectors are attacking human colonies. The Alliance and the Council will have to get involved then!_ Things were not always what they seemed, however. _Best to keep Delan talking_ , he thought. He wanted to be certain. He also wanted to know if she had been taken by the Collectors.

"Tell me more about this Alliance rep," he said neutrally.

"Chief Williams?" asked Delan. "I heard she was some kind of hero. Don't mean nothing to me, though. I'd rather she stayed back in Council space."

Shepard fought the urge to pummel Delan into paste. _How dare this sniveling coward disrespect her?_ But he kept his cool, never once showing either his team or this loser any indication of his anger.

"Any idea what she was doing on Horizon?" he asked, keeping the conversation going.

"She was supposed to be helping us get the defense towers up and running," said Delan. "I get the feeling she was here for something else; spying on us maybe."

 _Don't flatter yourself_ , Shepard thought. They'd never send anyone as high profile as Ashley out to spy on frontiersmen in the galactic backwoods. But the defense towers Delan mentioned; _that_ interested him. The means of taking out that Collector ship may have just presented itself.

"A gift from the Alliance," Delan said sarcastically. "High powered Guardian lasers. Supposed to keep enemy ships from landing near the colony. Had to build a massive underground generator just to give it enough juice! Only we could never get the targeting systems online. So the Alliance gave us a giant gun that couldn't shoot straight! Sons of bitches."

"Why do you think that this is the Alliance's fault?" Shepard asked, putting aside Delan's comments on the defenses for a moment. The hate for the Alliance really surprised him.

"We're just a small colony," the mechanic explained. "Nobody paid attention to us until we built those damn defense towers and drew attention to ourselves. I left Council space to get away from the Alliance. Nothing good ever comes from getting mixed up with them!"

"The Collectors are targeting remote colonies," countered Shepard, actually pleased to see concrete actions against the Collectors having been taken by the Alliance.

"I don't need their help," spat Delan. "Too many strings attacked. That rep said she was here to get the towers online, but mark my word, there's more to it than that!"

The Illusive Man had said as much, and his own encounter with Anderson hinted at that as well. But enough about that; Delan was a bitter ass, fixated on his hatred of the Alliance. Nothing more of use would come from further questioning.

"We can use those defenses against the Collectors," Shepard observed.

"You'd have to calibrate the targeting system first," countered Delan. "It's never worked right."

"We should be able to figure it out," said Garrus. "Just tell us where to find it."

"Just head to the main transmitter on the other side," said Delan. "Pretty hard to miss. The targeting controls are at the base."

"It's probably better if you just stay out of the way," said Shepard, not wanting to suffer the bitter Delan's company for a second longer."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too," said Delan. "I'll let you out, but I'm locking the door behind you; I'm not taking any chances. Good luck. I think you're gonna need it."

 _Coward_ , thought Shepard as they left.

They headed towards the communication tower as Delan had directed, and it did not take long for them to encounter a fourth, and even more powerful wave of enemies.

Now, not only were there Collectors and the presence of Harbinger among them, but also a pair of creatures that resembled large, lumbering husks carrying large, bio-mechanical sac-like weapons that fired powerful biotic shockwaves.

"Scions," announced Miranda. "Watch out for the cannon!"

Apparently, Cerberus had some intelligence on the creatures. Regardless, Shepard had already figured out that the cannon was bad. With the creatures providing heavy fire support to the Collectors, the fight was more time consuming. The blasts tended to rip through their shields, not only causing damage to their armor, but also leaving them vulnerable to the drones' particle beam rifles. This forced them to do much of their fighting from cover. Again, Harbinger taunted Shepard. Each time they killed the Collector that served as Harbinger's vessel, the entity possessed another drone a few moments later. But no matter; the three were more than a match for the twenty that they faced.

Finally, they moved into the courtyard where the transmission towers and defense towers were located. The Collector ship was practically on top of them. If they could get those guns going, they would have clear shooting. Now that Shepard was on the offensive and could see it clearly, it was not as big as he had first thought. From the courtyard, they estimated that it was roughly a kilometer in length, probably just under half the length of Sovereign. _We can take them_ , he thought. _We took Sovereign, we can take you_.

Of course, a horde of husks and Scions awaited them, this time with no Collectors in the mix whatsoever. Waves of husks swarmed them as the pair of Scions fired at them. Shepard was getting a feel for their tactics. They were tough, but their tactics were not sophisticated, relaying on numbers and heavy weapons. Soon, Shepard, Miranda, and Garrus had dispatched the last of them. Now to get the defense towers operational.

It did not take long for them to get Edi into the defense towers' targeting system, but while she brought the generators online, they had to face several waves of Collectors, Collectors mixed with husks, and after those had been defeated, a floating clamshell-beetle looking construct that carried what looked like husks fused together inside of it, presumably using them to further terrorize the Collector's enemies. Its attacks, consisting of a powerful particle beam and a seismic pulse attack, where the construct lands very hard on the ground causing a tremor that knocks down opponents, and then sets off a powerful energy pulse. The construct's barrier and armor made very, very difficult to kill without having to face its devastating offensive arsenal. Combined with the construct's offenses, the creature was one of the toughest single foes Shepard had ever faced.

All the while, husks poured out, preventing the trio from focusing on the powerful construct. As Miranda was fending off husks, Shepard saw the construct's particle beam tear through her shields and strike her. She went down, only her sophisticated armor keeping her alive. But Miranda could not survive the sustained blast, especially not with husks pounding her at the same time. Miranda wore no helmet, allowing Shepard to see her face. The look of despair in her eyes was the same look Miri had when she had told him of her father's machinations. He needed no more confirmation; it was her, and Shepard had to act, lest he lose her forever.

Cutting loose with the most powerful biotic blast he could muster, he sent the husks around him flying, and then interposed himself between Miranda and the construct, bringing his M-90 Cain to bear. The blast from the massive gun obliterated its shields and armor. With its defenses down, Shepard blasted it with a biotic pulse while firing his Avenger rifle, taking it down.

Until now, the Collectors had faced no resistance, and it was clear that they had no expectation that two humans and a Turian could thwart them; they considered themselves untouchable. But Shepard and his team had delivered them a stinging defeat, and as the construct fell, the generators reached full power, charging up the lasers and firing devastating blasts at the massive Collector ship. The Collectors, never having faced any real resistance, finally fled the scene. Having already loaded half the colony, Harbinger decided on cutting their losses. The blast from ship's engines sent a powerful shockwave through the colony as it took off, almost knocking Shepard down.

As it ascended into the sky, Delan suddenly appeared.

Miranda shook her head as the cowardly and embittered mechanic began shouting at the very man who had just saved the colony from utter destruction. Yes, the Collectors had gotten half the colony, but were it not for Shepard, they'd have gotten the whole colony. Miranda was tough and powerful, but without Shepard, they never would have defeated the Collector forces. She had never been so close to death so frequently in such a short period of time. And when that last menace attacked them, she thought for sure that they were done for. Shepard had knocked her out of the way and taken the full force of the particle beam for as long as his shields could endure, shooting all the while, finally taking it out with a biotic blast and sustained gunfire. Biotics! She could hardly believe it, as Shepard had no biotic history and no amp; if he had one, she would have found it during his rebuild. Installing an amp also required surgery, something that Shepard had had none of since his rebuild.

She put these things aside to ponder later; her focus was on the obnoxious Delan. To see this beneficiary of Shepard's efforts verbally assaulting him made her want to shoot him herself. She felt blood on her lips, and wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and joined Shepard.

"You've gotta do something," Delan kept shouting, as if Shepard could take down the roughly kilometer long Collector Cruiser that was at this point leaving the atmosphere with hand held weaponry. "They've got half the colony!"

"There's nothing I can do," said Shepard with frustration as the Collectors sailed away with their ill-gotten haul of human flesh. "I didn't want it to end this way," he continued darkly. "I did everything I could."

"More than anyone else has, Shepard," said Garrus.

"Wait, I know that name," said Delan, as recognition came to his face. "Sure, I remember you. You're some kind of bit Alliance hero."

"Commander Shepard," said Ashley, stepping into the courtyard. "Captain of the Normandy, first human Spectre, savior of the Citadel."

 _Yes!_ Miranda could not help but cheer inside for Shepard. _You tell that insect who he's dealing with!_ _After what we've just gone through, you deserve this, Shepard. You deserve to be reunited with the woman you love_. Ashley walked right up to Delan, put her hands on her hip and said,

"You're in the presence of a god, Delan. **B** ack from the dead."

"All the good people we lost and you get left behind," groused the ungrateful Delan, waving them off. "Screw this! I'm done with you Alliance types."

As the ungrateful mechanic walked off, Ashley approached Shepard, pausing and eyeing him. Her expression hardened, but she then held out her hand. Miranda felt a twinge of jealousy; along with Garrus, Ashley had been part of Shepard's inner circle, and had been like a sister to him. With the three of them together, she actually felt the energy. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced. Miranda could not help getting caught up in the moment. Shepard had actually turned back the Collectors! He had proven that they could do it! And suddenly, Shepard's inner circle was complete once again. But as quickly as the reward had come, Ashley took it away.

"It's been too long, Ash," Shepard said cheerfully, a broad smile still on his face. He was so happy just to see his old friend that he missed the changes in her body language and the tone of her voice. Miranda cringed as Shepard said, "How've you been?"

That was when Ashley turned on him.

"That's it?" she exclaimed, her voice having that quiet, intense quality that only comes from deep anger and resentment. "You show up after two years and act like nothing's happened?" She moved closer to him, but there was no closeness; only bitterness, disappointment, and admonishment. "I would have followed you anywhere, Commander. I thought you were gone!" Then she stiffened and backed away, Shepard looking bewildered. "I … you were more than our commander."

 _Did she … love him?_ Miranda was beginning to think that Ashley had feelings for Shepard that went beyond sisterly love or close friendship, but Shepard was clearly oblivious to them.

Miranda felt her own heart sink just watching the exchange, but she held her tongue. It would only make things worse if she did not. But Ashley did not let up.

"Why didn't you contact me? Why didn't you let me know you were alive?"

Shepard held up his hand to pause Ashley's stream of questions. Miranda thought he gave a perfectly reasonable answer too.

"Not my choice," he said. "I spent two years in some kind of coma while Cerberus rebuilt me. I tried to contact you, but everything bounced back. I went to Anderson, but he refused to help me."

Ashley's face filled with deep sadness, and then with rage.

"You mean the reports were true?" she hissed. "You're … working for Cerberus? Garrus too?"

"Reports?" asked Garrus with surprise. "You mean you already knew?"

"Alliance intel said that Cerberus might be behind our missing colonies," she said, softening her tone with Garrus. "We got a tip that this one could be next to get hit."

Miranda could not believe how stupid the Alliance was. _Cerberus behind the missing colonies; really?_ She did wonder, however, where the tip might have come from. _Poor Shepard_ , she thought. He was still trying to recover from Ashley's rejection and process what she was saying. He was already clearly upset about the Collectors taking half the colony. Ashley was just making it worse.

"I went to Anderson, but he wouldn't talk," Ashley continued. Then she turned back to Shepard, her voice again taking on an accusatory tone. "But there were rumors that you weren't dead. Worse, that you were working for the enemy."

"Cerberus and I want the same thing; to save our colonies," Shepard explained. "That doesn't mean I answer to them."

 _If only she knew just how true that was_ , Miranda thought. But Ashley would have none of it, and exploded. She got very close, almost in his face, as though things were leading to a physical confrontation.

"Do you really believe that? Or is that just what Cerberus wants you to think?" Her face was livid, her body shaking as she half yelled at him. "I wanted to believe that you were alive … I just never expected anything like this!" Then she hardened. Her face went from disappointment and shock to an angry sneer. "How could you just turn your back on all of us? You betrayed the Alliance. Anderson! You betrayed me."

Shepard shook his head, still not a hint of anger on his face. _He still thinks she's an ally_ , Miranda thought. _He wants her to understand_. But she knew his efforts would come to naught.

"Ash, you know me," he implored. "You know I'd only do this for the right reason. The Collectors are targeting human colonies. And they're working for the Reapers."

"I'd like to believe you," Ashley said emphatically, "but I don't trust Cerberus. And it worries me that you do. What did they do to you? What if they're behind it? What if they're the ones working with the Collectors?"

"Dammit Williams," Garrus scolded, "you're so focused on Cerberus that you're ignoring the real threat!"

"Typical Alliance attitude," said Miranda snidely, unable to hold her peace any longer.

"You're letting how you feel about their history get in the way of facts," explained Shepard earnestly, not a hint of reprisal in his voice.

"Or maybe you feel like you owe Cerberus because they saved you," she retorted, ignoring every fact Shepard had just given her. "Maybe it's you. Doesn't matter; I still know where my loyalties lie. I'm an Alliance soldier. It's in my blood." Then she turned and walked away, saying, "I'm reporting back to the Citadel. Let them decide if they believe your story."

"I've already been to the Citadel and told them my story," he countered. "They reinstated my Spectre status and ignored the threat … _again_. Just like they ignored it two years ago. You were there; you know what they did." Then he reached out to her. "It doesn't have to be like this, Ash. I could use someone like you on my crew. It'll be just like old times."

"No, it won't," she replied, stopping and turning back momentarily. "I'm no fan of aliens, but Cerberus has a history of being extremist. I'll never work for a group like that." Then her expression softened just a little, and she said, "Good bye, Shepard. Just … be careful." And with that, she walked away for good.

Shepard's face darkened and his body stiffened. Now, he was upset. Miranda thought he might go after her, and try to make her listen, but instead, he radioed the Normandy.

"Joker, send a shuttle to pick us up. I've had enough of this colony." His voice had the tone that told Miranda that he was done with trying to convince Ashley.

She resisted the urge to hug him; best to remain professional while in the field. Miranda could still not believe Ashley saying that she disliked aliens right in front of Garrus, who had been on her team against Sovereign.

"Hypocritical bitch," Miranda muttered under her breath.

The shuttle could not get there fast enough for Shepard. During the exchange with Ashley … and he could not think of what else to call it … he had been so caught up with seeing her again, he just tried to answer her questions. But now that she had walked off, leaving him standing there with Miranda and Garrus, her words sank in. Ashley had called him a traitor. She had questioned his character at the deepest levels. And she had listened to absolutely nothing he said to her. No matter how he tried to explain, she was not interested. It was not that she did not understand; she did. But she did not care. He clenched his fists tightly, his body tense with anger. _We were friends_ , he thought, _the best of friends. And you just threw it away, Ash._

His mind then drifted to Miri … Miranda. They were definitely one in the same. No doubts, no chance of Miranda not being her. But should I tell her? That question nagged him. He wanted to tell her right now; it would certainly brighten the mood, but Shepard had already had one reunion with an old friend go sour, and his feelings for Miri were much deeper than his friendship with Ashley. Miranda broke the silence, interrupting his thoughts with a pointed question.

"Since when were you a biotic?"


	10. Chapter 10: Personal Matters

**Chapter 10: Personal Matters**

Shepard was quiet the entire ride back. Miranda and Garrus tried to engage him in conversation, but he was not interested. He was still processing what had happened. Most of what they said to him seemed to blend in with the background noise. Finally, they just stopped trying. He still tried to wrap his head around Ashley's turning on him. She was there, two years ago, when Udina had the Normandy locked out. While Udina and the Council played politics, trying to deny the Reaper threat, Shepard, Ashley, Garrus, and Anderson had cooked up a scheme to unlock the ship systems. Shepard and his crew then stole the Normandy and flew to Ilos.

Technically, what they did was treason. And it had cost him a promotion. Only the appearance, and Shepard's subsequent defeat of, Sovereign had prevented court marshals for Anderson, Ashley, and himself. How could she not see that the Council and the Alliance brass were right back to doing the same thing?

The shuttle docked and Shepard wordlessly stormed out of the shuttle and directly to the lift. Miranda looked at Garrus, but Garrus shook his head.

"Talk to him later," Garrus warned. "You know Ashley was like a sister to him, don't you? It's been two years for the rest of us, but less than a month for Shepard."

"I knew they were close," confessed Miranda.

"He'll never forgive her for this," said Garrus. "She said she's an Alliance soldier and that it's in her blood; she doesn't know the meaning. For Shepard, the Alliance is literally all he's ever known. Hell, he grew up on ships with his parents. His father died in service to the Alliance and his mother's a captain." Garrus shook his head. "He didn't get that Star of Terra for letting his unit die and getting picked up as a sidekick by some captain; he saved his unit and thousands of civilians by holding the breach in the colony defenses himself, ordering his very small company of men to help get women and children to safety. Ash couldn't possibly understand or know." Then his eyes took on a fierce intensity. "And to have seen the Alliance tear apart everything he said, even before he was declared dead? She should have listened to him! She should have understood. Instead, she basically just called him a traitor. She threw away the most loyal friend she'll ever have when she did that."

"Will he be alright?"

"You mean will he be able to get his head together for the mission?" Garrus asked with annoyance. "Shepard will do what has to be done, no matter the personal cost. So don't even think about questioning him." Garrus began to walk away, but then he turned back and said, "Oh, and don't worry; we'll figure out how Ashley and the Alliance got their hands on information that Shepard's mission involved Cerberus. And when we do, you and your Illusive Man had better have some answers."

She opened her mouth to respond, but he was already walking away again, saying, "Don't screw with him, Miranda. You mess with him, you mess with me."

"I really do care that he's alright," she said quietly to no one as Garrus boarded the lift. She had also wondered about the reports that Ashley had mentioned. Miranda had no knowledge of them, and unless the Alliance had a mole implanted in Cerberus, there would be no way for them to know. _But I will find out for myself_ , she thought.

Shepard had changed back into his uniform and had entered the conference room. He touched the activation key on the table and it sank into the floor, revealing the QEC transmission pad. The lights dimmed to near total darkness as Shepard stepped onto the pad, the QEC system mapping his image. Momentarily, the room was dimly lit by the Illusive Man's life sized image, appearing before Shepard, seated in his chair, a planetary vista behind him. In the man's hand was his usual lit cigarette.

"Shepard, good work on Horizon," said the Illusive Man. "Hopefully, the Collectors will think twice before attacking another colony."

Shepard held up his hand and shook his head. "It's not a victory. We interrupted the Collectors, but they still abducted half the colony."

"That's better than an entire colony," the man countered. "And more than we've accomplished since the abductions began. The Collectors will be more careful now, but I think we can find another way to lure them in."

"Ash said the Alliance got a tip about me working with Cerberus," Shepard noted. "Was that you?"

"I may have let it slip that you were alive and working with Cerberus," confirmed the man.

 _Ashley was already primed and ready to be angry_ , he thought. _No wonder she was skeptical_. Still, given what they had been through, he could never forgive Ashley for shutting him out and then lashing out at him. But that did not let the Illusive Man off the hook.

"You risked the lives of my friend, my crew, and an entire colony? Just to lure the Collectors there?"

"A calculated risk," confirmed the Illusive man again, his voice still calm. "I suspected the Collectors were looking for you, or people connected to you. Now I know for certain."

Shepard began to respond, but the Illusive Man cut him off.

"I told you I wouldn't wait while the Collectors and the Reapers gathered strength. Besides, they would have hit another colony eventually. Without a way to predict which one, they would've abducted everyone."

Shepard wanted to tear into the Illusive Man, but the Cerberus leader's logic was solid; as painful as it was, they had actually saved a lot of lives because of what the Illusive Man had done. He just wished that he had been in the loop regarding the release of information on the mission. He wondered if Miranda knew, not that it mattered, though it would have been nice for her to said something to him if she did. Enough of this.

"We have to make sure they don't abduct anyone else."

"I want the Collectors stopped for that very reason. That's why we're doing this, Shepard. I'm devoting all resources to finding a way through the Omega 4 Relay. We have to hit them where they live." Then he shifted in his chair and assumed a more familiar posture. "Your team will need to be strong, as will their resolve. There's no looking back. The same goes for you. Can I assume you've put your past relationships behind you?"

"None of your damn business," replied Shepard bluntly, making a sharp, dismissive gesture his right hand to emphasize the point.

"If it affects the mission, better you should leave it behind," said the Illusive Man as he crushed out his cigarette. "Shepard, once we find a way through the Omega 4 Relay to the Collector homeworld, there's no guarantee you'll return. To have any hope of survival, you - and your entire team, must be fully committed to this."

"Let me worry about them," said Shepard, always annoyed with far away people trying to micromanage him while in the field. "You just find us a way to the Collector homeworld."

"I just want to be up front about your odds. You'll need everyone at their best. I've forwarded three more dossiers. Keep building your team while I find a way through the Omega 4 Relay. And be careful Shepard; the Collectors will be watching you."

With that, the Illusive Man picked up a remote and cut the connection. Shepard stepped off of the pad and the table reemerged from the floor, the lights returning to their normal intensity. The door opened, revealing Jacob standing in the hallway, his arms crossed, and a serious expression on his face.

"I guess we're really gonna do it," he said. "Hit the Omega 4 Relay and take the fight to the Collectors in person." He then walked up to Shepard, saying, "Looking forward to the action. But after seeing what those bastards did on Horizon … makes you think."

"They're powerful," said Shepard, "but we've got a few tricks for them. If anyone can stop them, we can."

"No argument there, Commander," agreed Jacob. "Horizon just made it hit home; what we're doing, what we're up against." Then he shifted a little, looking down, and continued. "Gonna go take care of a little unfinished business. Imagine everyone else is too – getting some closure, you know?"

Jacob walked off, clearly a lot on his mind. Shepard contemplated the operative's ominous words; unfinished business. What was he doing waiting outside the door for him? Chances were that he simply wanted to catch Shepard to talk to him, but what … unfinished business was the operative referring to? He had liked Jacob, and trusted him from the start, but now he wondered if he needed to watch out for the man.

 _Imagine everyone else is too – getting some closure, you know_. That meant personal matters. And Jacob was not just speaking in generalities. He had something specific in mind, and probably had some idea of what some of the others might want to take care of before embarking on a suicide mission. While Shepard could understand wanting to take care of things, he was not sure that the mission would allow for it. He decided to wait and let people come to him before worrying about it. Right now, though, he had a lot of his own personal matters to consider.

He walked through the tech-lab foyer and out into the CIC to check in with the Yeoman. Kelly Chambers greeted him warmly as always. The girl had been flirty with him from the moment he had stepped aboard, and just gushing with admiration. He still had not gotten used to the hero worship that had become a regular part of his life since the Blitz, but he had learned to deal with it.

"I saw the reports on Horizon, Commander," she said, her voice filled with admiration. "What you was amazing! The report mentioned that Ashley Williams was there. How did that go?"

"We've been through a lot," he said, putting on a more casual air, and disguising just how much it had hurt him. "I wish we could have had more time together." That was true; maybe things would have ended differently.

"Do you have strong feelings for her?"

"Ashley's an incredible woman, like a sister. I didn't like saying goodbye."

"I'm sorry. Parting ways with someone so close is never easy."

"I appreciate that," he replied. "But I'll be okay."

"How may I help you, Commander," asked the Yeoman, resuming a still friendly, but more professional tone.

"Is there anything I should know?"

"Nothing right now, Commander."

"Thanks. I'll be in my cabin for a while. I've got some things to process."

"Yes, Sir. If you need anything …"

"I'll let you know, Kelly."

Right now, he just needed some time alone. He eschewed his normal visit to the bridge after a mission; Joker would have something to say about Ashley, but right now, he did not want to hear anything about Ashley.

Miranda sat and stared at the message on the screen. She could not believe it. After everything she had done, as hard as she had worked, Doctor Henry Lawson had managed undo her efforts. She was torn. The Mission came first, of course; if Shepard did not succeed, and she was convinced that he was the only one who could, then none of this would matter. Also, it was highly personal. She had grown to like Shepard, and even to trust him, but was not quite ready to share this much of herself. Time, however, was not on her side, and to take care of this, she would need help. And Shepard was the only one she trusted enough to help her on this.

"I have to ask him," she said aloud with resignation.

Shepard sat in his cabin in silence contemplating the events on Horizon and the words of his former friend. The more he thought about it, the more it hurt. _Did she really know me so little?_ he asked himself. He had thought that she knew him better than anyone, but as it turned out, she did not know him at all. _I … you were more than our commander_ , she had said. Had she loved him? Beyond the love of a dear friend? He hoped not; Shepard had never led her on, and had always been truthful with her. He had made it clear that there was someone out there waiting for him. He thought she had understood, but it seemed that she had developed romantic feelings for him. _How could I have missed it? Perhaps she simply could not express herself?_ Then he thought, _no_. She faked her emotions by quoting writers of deep thought, feigning an inability to express herself. But when it came time to be hurtful, her deception was undone; she had no trouble whatsoever expressing herself.

Two years had gone by, but he was right back where he was after the events of Eden Prime; facing a galactic foe and fighting the denial of the Alliance and the Council. And Anderson – what a disappointment he turned out to be. He could have _told_ Ashley that Shepard had asked about her. But maybe it was for the best; better to find out where he stood now. Now, he could focus all of his efforts against the Collectors without the distraction of Ashley Williams.

He stood abruptly, satisfied with having processed the events on Horizon, and exited his cabin, heading to the CIC.

"Is there anything I should know?" he asked Kelly. It was pure laziness on his part; he could check his terminal anytime he wanted, but right now, he decided that he liked being free from the computer screen.

"Operative Taylor would like to see you in the armory. Operative Lawson would like to see you in her cabin. Anything else?"

"Thanks; nothing more."

Shepard then went to the cockpit to see Joker.

"Hey Commander," said Joker tentatively as Shepard entered. "It's uh … pretty crazy the people you can run into out here, huh? I mean it was probably just a set up or something, but it was pretty good to see Ash – Operations Chief Williams, wasn't it?"

"She moved on. I can't blame her." Shepard was not going to say anymore. He had moved on now too.

"She was front line with you blowing up half the Citadel and I'm the one who gets roped back into saving the galaxy? What? Did somebody switch our files?"

"You're the force that pulls it all together, Joker."

"Yeah, sucks, I can tell you that."

"That's it for now," said Shepard. _Time to go see Jacob and Miranda_.

Miranda's door chimed. She knew exactly who it was as she signaled it to open.

"Shepard, I find myself in the unpleasant position of asking for your help," she began tentatively. "I don't like discussing personal matters, but this is important."

"Miranda, you're one of my crew," he replied, as if that answered everything. "Tell me what's on your mind."

"You remember when I told you about my father building a dynasty? There was another reason I went to Cerberus for protection."

Miranda stood up and walked out from behind her desk. Shepard was here, listening to her. The desk made it like she was making a formal leave request or something. But this was not formal; it was personal. And it was about family. She recalled her own observation that to Shepard, his crew was his family. While she had been a part of his crew since the mission began, it had been something that was imposed upon him from outside. But the way he said it now, she was no longer a 'them' placed here to safeguard Cerberus' priorities; she was part of his crew, his family. It would have seemed odd were it anyone else, but she felt a connection to the war hero. She walked over to the chairs by the window and signaled for him to join her. He walked over, but neither of them sat down. Miranda was too nervous about what was going on to relax, while Shepard stood patiently, waiting for her before taking a seat.

"I have a sister – a twin, and he's still hunting her. Cerberus has kept her safe … until now. She's living a normal life on Illium, safe, and hidden from my father."

"So, you think your father has tracked her down."

She realized that she had been holding her breath, only exhaling when she spoke, then holding it again. _Got to relax_ , she thought. _He's listening to you, just as you had hoped_.

"Precisely, Commander," she said, noticeably less tense now that Shepard seemed receptive. "My sources indicate that he knows that she's on Illium. I've tried to keep her hidden without impacting her life, but I'm out of options. He's too close. I need to relocate my sister's family before it's too late."

"What do you know about your sister?"

"She's my genetic twin – we're identical. But she deserves a normal life, and she's going to get it no matter what."

"Does your sister's family know about this? Are they okay with being relocated?"

"They know nothing. They're completely uninvolved; normal. I talked to Cerberus, and they're coming up with a positive reason to move the family."

"What do you need me to do?"

Miranda had expected Shepard to balk at her request, or at least to deliberate, but no. He could see how important this was to her, and he offered to help without hesitation, and without condition. _No wonder they loved him on the old Normandy_ , she thought.

"My father is extremely persistent. I'd like to go to Illium when Cerberus is moving the family to make sure none of his agents get to close. My contact's name is Lantea. She'll be waiting for us in the lounge near the Nos Astra docking bay."

"Send me the details," he replied. I'll make sure we're there for the move."

Finally, she could sit back down, the weight lifted from her. "Thank you, Shepard," she said. "This means a lot to me."

Shepard met with Jacob in the armory next. It seemed that Operative Taylor had been forwarded a lead on his father's ship, the MSV Hugo Gernsback, which had gone missing ten years ago. A distress beacon was suddenly signaling, dormant after over a decade. It was odd; distress signals don't tend to go off after a ten year delay. Jacob seemed to think that it was most likely a malfunction, but he still seemed to want to look into it. The conversation had waxed familial, and Taylor revealed that his relationship with his father had been less than cordial. Clearly, this was the "closure" that Jacob had been referring to getting earlier.

"I think we can spare the time," Shepard told him. "Pass the coordinates to Joker."

"I appreciate that, Commander. I don't expect more than dusty old bones, but it'll be good to close the record."

Now, two of the crew needed help with personal matters. Miranda was special; there was very little that he would not do for her. Jacob was another matter; he did not mind, but it really had nothing to do with their mission. As the Illusive Man still had not found a way though the Omega-4 Relay, Shepard felt that they could spare the time and resources, but once they had a way through, he would have to curtail any further personal missions.

Shepard had gone to see Jacob, leaving Miranda to her own devices. Her reports were long since done, the only new development being Shepard's consenting to help her with Ori. It was becoming more difficult for her to deny her feelings for the man, the old promise losing some of its pull on her. She fought it, but there was no denying that she had developed a bit of a crush on the commander, a crush that was threatening to become full blown affection.

"I promised," she said aloud, reprimanding herself. "Miranda Lawson does not break her promises.

But a promise to a man who, as far as she could tell, no longer existed? A man who may be dead? Was she truly beholden to it? When would she allow herself to love again? She wanted to start a family, but according to a cavalcade of doctors, benign neoplasm would prevent her from ever conceiving, so she had no time limit on how long she could wait, but at thirty six, Miranda was not particularly young, and her line of work did not lend itself to forming meaningful relationships. Shepard was here, now. Nobody would hold it against her if she pursued him. But John … her John … no, she decided. She had to remain strong.

That was when Jacob entered. Having had his conversation with Shepard, he now sought an audience with Miranda. He entered her cabin, walking in like he owned the place. Jacob was a decent man, but she hated his fixation on her. No meant no, and not interested meant not interested. Why could he not understand that?

"I prefer you to ring the buzzer or knock," she admonished.

"Do you make Shepard ring the buzzer or knock?" There was an edge to his words.

"I don't have to," she replied calmly. "He always does. Now, what can I do for you?"

"Come on, Miranda! We've been dancing around this for almost two years now, and …"

"No, Jacob," she corrected. "I've told you repeatedly how I feel. There's been no _dancing_ around anything."

"Don't give me that," Jacob protested. "You always talk about that promise you made, but Shepard comes along, and you're making eyes at him and …"

Miranda stood abruptly. "I said no!" She could feel her biotics crackling to life, and sensed a shift in Jacob's aura as well. Two biotic operatives going at it in an enclosed space was not a good thing for the ship, but if it proved unavoidable, she would do it.

"Alright, Miranda," he said calmly, bringing down his biotic energy. "I get it … you're pushing me away. But this isn't over. You're here, I'm here."

"Get out."

Jacob did as she asked, the door swishing as it closed behind him. She checked the hall cameras to see that he truly had left, and had taken the lift back to the CIC, and when she was certain that he had, she broke down crying. She was falling in love with a man she knew she could not have, and being stalked by a man she did not want, all with the fate of the galaxy at stake. This was too much.


	11. Chapter 11: The Prodigal

**Chapter 8: The Prodigal**

"Damn it," Miranda exclaimed as they found themselves in the midst of numerous gunships, all bearing the Eclipse logo. "Eclipse mercenary gunships. They'll be dropping troops in the cargo areas." They saw one land in an open area ahead, unloading men even as she spoke. Then another gunship began firing on them, trying to force them into the open area. The skycar was unarmed, so Miranda did not even try to fight them.

"Put us down in that cover behind them," said Shepard, already evaluating the situation and planning ahead.

"Let's hope they really do want to take us alive," said Miranda with concern.

Forced down by the gunship, Miranda was glad that neither Shepard nor Jacob made any 'told you so' remarks as the car made a rather ugly landing. She did, however manage to land it behind the cover Shepard had directed her to.

When they got out, they were confronted by an Eclipse lieutenant, a human. He wore the energy armor that marked him as a sentinel; a biotic combat engineer. He was flanked by about twenty men, some human, some Salarian. Additionally, she saw that they had snipers lined up. She was alarmed at this, and she realized that Shepard had noticed them too, though he was the definition of cool under pressure, giving away nothing. _Could be trouble_ , she thought.

"I got this," the lieutenant said to one of his men, who were eager to charge in.

"Since you're not firing, I trust you know who I am," said Miranda.

"Yeah, they said you'd be in the car," he confirmed. "You're the bitch that kidnapped our boss's little girl."

She wondered how they knew that she and her fire-team would be in the car, but that had to wait.

"Kidnapped?" she asked. "This doesn't involve you. I suggest you take your men and go."

"You think you've got it all lined up, huh?" the merc taunted. "Captain Enyala's already movin' in on the kid. She knows about Niket – he won't be helping you."

"What do you mean, Niket won't be helping us?" asked Shepard as he observed the mercs.

"Nothin' you need to worry about," replied the merc. "Nobody's going to get killed unless you do something stupid." The merc moved closer to Shepard. "You walk away now, the girl goes back to her father, everybody's happy."

"Everybody but my sister … and me," retorted Miranda. She was about to say more, but she noticed that Shepard had stopped looking around and had narrowed in on the merc lieutenant. _He's ready to move_ , she thought, though she did not see how they were going to get out of this; they had their backs to the wall and were surrounded by a superior force with superior position.

"I'm giving you one chance to leave," announced the Commander. "That's more than most get."

"Captain Enyala ordered us to give you one chance to leave," growled the Lieutenant. "But this whole time we've been talking, my men have been lining up shots." He got right up in Shepard's face. "When I say the word, we unleash hell on your squad. So I suggest you walk away nicely unless you want things to get ugly."

Without warning, Shepard slugged him in the gut and snapped his neck. He looked up at a large shipping crate being moved overhead, and motioned to Miranda to shoot it, which she quickly did, bringing it down on top of thee of the mercs. Jacob took out the four right around them. Then the firefight began, though it ended almost as soon as it began, as Shepard deftly took out merc after merc. He seemed to dance through the battlefield, shooting them, but instinctively being 'not there' when they fired back. When the last one fell, she picked up one of their communicators.

Thus far, Shepard had waded into battle for her without having much in the way of information. She had withheld a lot from him, but now, she felt like she owed him. She wondered if this was how Jacob felt back on the station when he told Shepard that they worked for Cerberus back when the Commander had first woke up. She had accused him of letting his conscience get the better of him, but now, she was about to do the same thing. They stepped into the lift to get to the next location and she told him the truth about Oriana.

"Shepard … I think I owe you an explanation. Oriana is my twin genetically, but my father … grew her when I was a teenager. She was meant to replace me. I couldn't let my father do to her what he did to me … so I rescued her. She's almost a woman now."

"Why didn't you tell me that we were saving a child?" he asked. He did not sound indignant; just puzzled.

"She's not a child," retorted Miranda. "She'll be nineteen this year. But … well, it didn't seem relevant at the time, I suppose. There are people who'd use her against me. I'm very protective when it comes to Oriana." She looked down for a moment and said, "I'm sorry I didn't trust you sooner. You deserved to know."

"If Eclipse knows where Oriana is, they'll be moving in on her soon," said Shepard. "We need to hurry."

"Agreed. I'm a bit worried by what that merc said. If they got to Niket somehow, this is going to be harder than I'd planned."

Miranda then briefed Shepard on the floorplans ahead, making sure to get the information to both Shepard and Jacob's omni tools. Once they made some initial plans, Shepard asked,

"You sure you can trust Niket?"

"Oh, absolutely," Miranda assured him. "I'm sure my father's tried to get to him, but he's one of the few people who knows what my father is really like. He wouldn't sell me out now." Shepard just looked at her, still suspicious of her old friend. It really bothered her that he did not trust Niket. It felt almost like a personal affront; not only was he essentially disrespecting her oldest friend, but he was also questioning her judgment. "You'll see," she said confidently.

"I hope so," said Jacob. "If Niket's been bought, then Oriana's screwed. And so are we."

"That's not gonna happen," barked Shepard. "One way or another, Miranda's sister gets to safety. I made a promise." Then he looked at Miranda and said, "And I keep my promises."

As they fought their way through the Eclipse mercs, Miranda could not help but admire the Commander. He assimilated every new battlefield and adapted, changing up their tactics on the fly. This was Shepard's forte; ground assault. Fighting his way through the Eclipse mercs proved pathetically easy for the war hero, and she could really see how it was that a single man had been able to hold Elysium. Fighting alongside him, her doubts faded from the first moment. And she loved watching him break that obnoxious merc's neck at the start of the mission.

Things went well as far as the fighting went, and tactically, things were seemingly perfect; she had monitored the mercs' activities with the communicator she had picked up, even listening in on Captain Enyala, giving Shepard real-time intel. They finished off another wave of the mercs who were trying to bar them from the lift to the transport level when she heard Enyala say something that really worried her.

"Niket has reached the terminal. He'll switch the family over to our transport."

"Niket? But … that can't be right." Miranda shook her head. _No_ , she thought, _it can't be right_. Jacob shook his head as she fought the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her it was right. Shepard led them into the lift and selected the transport level, not commenting yet about Niket. The lift began moving, playing insipid Muzak.

"Maybe the captain knows that we're listening in and she's feeding us false information about Niket making a switch," she reasoned, but Jacob shook his head again. "Or maybe it means something else," she continued, grasping at straws. "Niket wouldn't do that!" In a fit of frustration and rage, she activated her omni-tool and pounded the car's speaker system, shorting it out. "Damn it! Why doesn't this thing go any faster?"

"What makes you so sure Niket wouldn't turn on you?" Shepard asked, finally weighing in.

"He could have turned on me when I ran away," she explained, desperately wanting to believe in her old friend's loyalty. "I'm sure my father tried to buy him off. If he didn't do it then, why would he do it now?"

"The message on the radio seemed pretty clear," countered Shepard. "And I'm assuming that this is the same sniveling punk I met years ago."

"He wouldn't betray me," she declared. "We'll be at the transport shuttle in a moment and we'll clear this all up." Suddenly, she turned on Shepard. "What did you mean by that?"

"By what?"

"That you met Niket."

He was quiet for a long moment. "I've met a lot of people, many of whom do questionable things, Miranda. I can't go into it, not here, but trust me on this; he doesn't have your best interests at heart."

Shepard knew the sound of someone deceiving themselves. He had heard it all his life from one person or another. He liked to think that it was a habit he had not developed, though he knew that he probably did it too to some extent; everyone did, human or no. He really hated saying that it sounded pretty clear, and if gunfire and the safety of Miranda's sister weren't involved, he would have held his tongue. But they were moments away from the transport shuttle, and the time for self-deception was long since passed. He only hoped Miranda would come to her senses before it cost them.

He watched her surface confidence melt into shock and betrayal as the lift doors opened up into the last loading area before the transport shuttle hub. They expected more mercs at this point, but instead, the doors opened to reveal Niket haggling with Enyala over the conditions of the switch over. One of the terminal workers ran, only to be shot by Enyala. They all drew their guns and stood there, pointing their weapons at each other in a Mexican stand-off.

"She needs to die," growled Shepard.

But Miranda was focused on her old friend, and her betrayal at his hands. She was almost oblivious to Enyala, the dead worker, or Shepard and Jacob.

"Miri?" Niket was clearly shocked to be face to face with Miranda. Miri - Shepard decided he liked the diminutive on her.

"Niket," said Miranda, her voice low and filled with resentment, "you sold me out."

"How do you want to handle this, Miranda?" Shepard needed to know, but she was not responding.

"Why, Niket?" she asked, oblivious to Shepard's question. "You were my friend! You helped me get away from my father!"

"Yeah, because you wanted to leave," retorted Niket. "That was your choice. But if I'd known that you'd stolen a baby …"

"I didn't steal her, I rescued her," Miranda exclaimed.

"From a life of wealth and happiness?" asked Niket incredulously. "You weren't saving her; you were getting back at your father!"

But Shepard knew a smoke screen when he saw one. Just like Miranda, Niket was trying more to convince himself than Miranda of the truth of his words.

"How did Miranda's father turn you?" Shepard saw no need to mince words.

"They told me you kidnapped your baby sister all those years ago," said Niket, directing his answer to Miranda. "They said I could help get her back peacefully, no trauma to the family. I told them you'd never do that; they could go to hell! Then you finally called me and told me what you'd done. I called them back that night."

"Why didn't you call me, Niket?" she cried. "We've been through a lot. You could have at least let me explain." Miranda was an emotional basket case. Shepard knew Niket was full of it, but she still did not see it.

"And I deserved to know that you'd stolen your sister, Miri," he retorted. "I deserved to know that you were with Cerberus, but I had to hear it from your father first!"

 _Enough of the bullshit_ , thought Shepard. _Punk hasn't changed since 2166. This is all just moral smoke and mirrors. Time to ask the one question that really matters_ :

"How much did Miranda's father pay you?"

And just like that, the moral façade faded, just as Shepard knew it would. Niket's shoulders slumped slightly, and his voice took on a quieter, remorseful tone.

"A great deal," was all he said. No more moral platitudes or attempts to turn the situation around and blame Miranda. _Money … it's always money_.

"Damn it, Niket," Miranda cried, as she realized what was truly at the bottom of it all. "You were the only one I trusted from that life!"

Shepard wanted to holster his gun and hold the poor woman. She was betrayed so completely, her trust completely undone. At this point, tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"He knew you felt that way," Niket confessed. "That's why he bought me."

"So you just took his money," Miranda said with resignation.

"Don't get holy with me," Niket barked indignantly. "You took his money for years!"

 _The bastard still has some pride left_ , Shepard thought. _We'll fix that soon enough_. But there was no way Shepard was going to allow the moral pissing contest to resume. Time to change the subject.

"If he's working for your father, that means he knows about Oriana," said Shepard, keeping Miranda on point. "We need to find a new solution."

Niket shifted nervously, and then spoke as Captain Enyala shifted about anxiously, keeping her shotgun trained on the trio.

"Miranda's father has no information on Oriana. I knew you had spy programs in your father's system, so I kept it private. I'm the only one who knows."

"Which means that you're the only loose end," said Miranda, her voice tinged with sadness. "This isn't how I wanted to end this Niket. I'm going to miss you …"

She was about to pull the trigger, but as satisfying as it would be to let Miranda shoot Niket between the eyes, Shepard could not let her do it. Miranda did not want to kill this man, and if she did, she would regret it for the rest of her life. Shepard still agonized over Kaiden's death, and that had been necessary command decision, with Kaiden's approval on top of it all. Had he pulled the trigger and killed Kaiden himself, he would never have forgiven himself. _No, I can't let her carry that burden_. He holstered his pistol, to Jacob's surprise, and stayed Miranda's hand.

"Miranda, wait; you don't want to do this!"

"It has to end here, Shepard," replied Miranda. Her tone was even, but her face was still a mask of anger and betrayal. She physically resisted Shepard, but he held her weapon arm fast. "My father will keep trying to find Oriana."

As she finished her sentence, she relaxed against his grip and looked away, Shepard's action having taken some of the edge off of her anger. Surprisingly, she actually holstered her gun. Shepard seized the opportunity for a peaceful solution.

"Maybe Niket can help. Talk to your father," he said. "Just say you got here first." He then looked at Niket. That seemed to get Niket to come around. Perhaps there was some loyalty there after all.

"I'll … I'll tell him you hid her. That I don't know where she is."

"I never want to see you again," Miranda warned, half yelling and half crying, pointing her finger at him.

"Done," boasted the Asari merc captain, shooting Niket in the back. He slumped forward, dead, his spine blown out by the weapon. "Now if you don't mind, I have a shipment to deliver." With that, her body began to shimmer with biotic power and she levitated off of the ground. She was ready to fight, but Miranda took advantage of Enyala's delay.

"You'll die for that, bitch!" cried Miranda, her own biotics now evident as a shimmer around her body. She wound up and threw a powerful blast at Captain Enyala, hurtling her back into the cargo crates. Shepard could not help but admire the beauty and power that the Cerberus operative possessed. _Damned impressive_ , he thought. The merc captain recovered quickly, however, and more of her Eclipse troops were pouring into the bay.

Miranda poured all of her anger, frustration, and sadness into the blast, but while it sent Enyala across the bay, it did not kill her. In fact, Enyala's own biotics had kept her relatively unharmed. _He's dead_ , she thought over and over again. _He's dead!_ Saving Ori was all she could think of as the firefight erupted around them. She could not believe how gullible she had been Shepard had been right all along, but Miranda simply could not see it.

Enyala proved a tough opponent, and with a force of mercs at her side, it seemed impossible. But Shepard proved more than capable. He seemed to know just where to stand to do the most damage while receiving the least fire, and shot the overhead crates at just the right time to bring them down on the hapless mercs. There were a few sentinels among the Salarian Eclipse members, but the three of them held their own. As Miranda and Jacob used their biotics, Shepard danced through the battlefield, taking mercs out with single shots to the head, his Carnifex pistol more than enough to penetrate their shields and armor. Finally, he closed with the biotic captain.

Miranda took out three mercs with powerful warp field, trying to hurry to Shepard's side, but even a powerful biotic, as Captain Enyala clearly was, was no match for the hero of the Blitz. Whittling down her shields with gunfire and weathering her biotic onslaught, Shepard closed the gap relentlessly, finally closing with her and taking her out in hand to hand combat. When she realized that her biotics were not going to stop him, she brought her shotgun to bear, but it was too late. Shepard struck it aside with his left hand as he drove his right elbow at her left temple. She ducked, only to be caught in the chin by his left uppercut, shattering her jaw and snapping her neck backward, killing her. As Captain Enyala's broken body crumpled to the floor, Miranda shouted out,

"Yes!"

She felt a bit silly; she was a covert operative, not a football fan, but she could not help herself. All of her frustration and anger had been vented, though now that the moment of victory had passed, she had to face the cold truth; she was a failure. Niket had played her right up to the end, and had probably been playing her before she ran. And she never saw it coming. Her father had known exactly who to buy, and where, and for all of her sophistication and training, he could still blindside her. Shepard picked up some trinket that lay on the floor, and then called the lift. One last ride in the elevator, and they would be at the transport shuttle, and it would all be over. Oriana would be safe. As the doors opened, she stepped into the car, her eyes downcast.

"I can't believe Niket sold me out," she lamented, biting back tears. "I didn't even see it coming."

"Even with all your upgrades, you're human; just like the rest of us," Shepard consoled.

"But I let it get personal," she retorted, turning away from him and covering her face with her hand to hide her tears. "And I screwed up." _Can't let him see me cry_ , she thought. "Why didn't you let me kill him? I could have handled that. But watching him get gunned down by that Asari bitch …"

"Because you still cared for him," explained Shepard, his voice consoling. "Even if he betrayed you."

"You're right," she conceded, still unable to turn and face him. "And my father knew it. He used that against me." She shook her head in disgust. "It's always been like this. My father gave me anything I ever wanted, but there was always a hook, an angle for his long term plan." She found that in Shepard's presence, her words flowed freely, no hesitation now. Things she had never voiced to any human being besides Niket she was now voicing to Shepard. Finally, she turned around to face him, no longer caring if he saw her tears. "I threw away everything he ever gave me. Except Niket. Weakness on my part."

"You still have Oriana," Shepard offered.

"My father didn't give her to me," she said more tersely than she intended. She softened and continued. "I rescued her. But yes, you're right. I still have something. Thank you."

The lift came to a halt and the doors opened up to the transport shuttle hub. Everything was quiet; no mercs, no visible threats. She began to relax as her adrenaline levels dropped.

"No sign of Eclipse," Miranda remarked with relief. Miranda's heart skipped a beat when she saw Oriana with her family. "There she is. She's safe … with her family."

She felt her eyes misting over at the sight of her sister. The girl was now nineteen, and Miranda had not laid eyes on her since she was a baby. She looked like Miranda, but at the same time, she did not. They were sister; genetically identical, but physically different. She was beautiful … and happy.

"Come on," she said abruptly. "We should go."

"Don't you even want to say hello?" asked Shepard.

"It isn't about what I want," Miranda admonished. "It's about what's right for her. The less she knows about me the better. She's got a family, a life. I'd only complicate that for her."

But Shepard surprised her with has response.

"She doesn't need any details, but would it really be so bad for her to know she has a sister who loves her?"

She wondered how was it that the man who snaps spines, breaks necks, and shatters skulls as naturally as breathing was so thoughtful … so insightful … and so caring. She blinked back the tears, only now they were tears of joy; she had never dreamed that she could ever actually meet Oriana as her sister, and get to know her, but Shepard had just made it possible.

"I guess not," she said, trying not to cry.

"Go on," replied Shepard. "We'll wait here."

Miranda nervously went to the sister she had known only as a baby. She had kept tabs on her from afar, but it was all through contacts and electronic surveillance. Ori looked and saw her coming, and their gazes met. A thousand questions were going through Miranda's mind, not the least of which was what her parents, Roger and Amelia Branson, would think. She could not just get rid of them for an hour, or even a few minutes; their shuttle was due at any moment, so Miranda needed to say whatever she was going to say in front of them. She had been with the Cerberus personnel who had arranged the adoption, so the Bransons had seen her before, though it had been almost twenty years. To her surprise, they remembered her immediately.

"Ms. Lawson?" Roger half exclaimed and half asked.

"Who is she, Dad?" asked Oriana, confused.

"She's with the agency we adopted you through, Ori," exclaimed Amelia, embracing Miranda.

"Good to see you again, Amelia," replied Miranda as she hugged Ori's mom. _Good_ , she thought; _Ori actually knows that she's adopted. That will make this go smoother_.

"This girl has been such a blessing to us," Amelia gushed. "Bright, beautiful, and wonderfully kind. She's … I couldn't have wished for a finer daughter!"

"Indeed," added Roger, "she's a brilliant musician; plays the violin. I see a concert violinist in the future."

"I do play," Oriana said enthusiastically. "I love the Adagio movement of Nielsen's fifth; it's what inspired me to play. But I don't think being a professional musician is in my future; I'm going to school for a degree in colony development. That's where we're going now, in fact; I've been accepted to the University of Terra Nova! I am so excited!"

"Ori, Roger, Amelia," said Miranda shakily, "We don't have much time, and what I have to say … it's complicated. I … I wanted you to know that … that I'm not just an employee of the adoption agency. Ori, I'm your sister." She was so nervous, and she felt the tear on her cheeks. She no longer cared. "I don't want to … I mean … damn it! I don't even know what to say!"

"Her sister?" asked Roger. But then he realized the truth. "Now it makes sense. They had said that a family member had rescued her from an abusive situation. That must have been you!"

"It was," cried Miranda, overjoyed at the reception the Bransons were giving her.

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Oriana suddenly. "That's Commander Shepard!"

Oriana was a nineteen year old girl, and she acted like one. She looked over at the Commander and could not help but join Ori in admiring the man. Then she smiled broadly, saying,

"He's with me."

"You're working with Commander Shepard?" Oriana's hands went to her mouth. "That is so cool!" Then she became giddy and exclaimed, "You gotta tell me what he's like!"

"He's a good friend, and a good man," replied Miranda proudly. "Everything the vids said he was, and a lot more." Then her tone became more serious. "We're on an important mission. I … I can't give you details, but it was … important to me to see you, to know that you were alright before we embark on it."

"It sounds dangerous," said Roger, his voice now tinged with concern.

"It is," she confirmed. "Please don't ask me any details; I can't share them. I only wanted you to know that … that I love you. And …"

She was overcome with emotion, unable to continue, so Oriana just hugged her tightly. Then she whispered, "Miranda, I know I've had a guardian angel for many years, but I never knew it was you. Thank you." Then she said aloud, "I love you too sis."

The shuttle arrived, ending the reunion. The Bransons collected their luggage, and bid Miranda farewell. Miranda could hardly believe how well it had gone. _Shepard was right_ , she thought. _It wouldn't hurt for her to know_.

"If I come back from this," said Miranda, "I'll see you again. I promise!"

"You'd better," Ori called back as they boarded the shuttle. "And kiss the Commander for me, will you?"

Ten minutes; that was all the time she was able to have with her sister, but it was the best ten minutes of her life. With Oriana safe, she rejoined Shepard and Jacob. _Finally_ , she thought, _I can put my personal worries aside and focus on the mission_. But as she rejoined the Commander, she realized that she had feelings other than worry that might distract her.


	12. Chapter 12: Undercurrents of Attraction

**Chapter 12: Undercurrents of Attractions**

They took the shuttle back to the Nos Astra Transport Hub. The ride was going to be long, but Miranda did not mind. She sat across from Shepard; next to Jacob, just as she had when they had first left the doomed Lazarus Project and met the Illusive Man. She had started to sit down next to Shepard, but she wanted to maintain some professional distance; she realized that she was falling for the war hero, and did not want to risk being that close for fear of displaying physical affection. Also, she wanted to look at him as they spoke, look into his eyes. She thought she could just lose herself in those eyes. She tried to remain strong, to resist the feelings she was developing for him, but she realized that right now, she was fighting a losing battle.

"Shepard, Jacob, thank you both for helping me out with Ori," she said, not wanting to minimize the fact that Jacob had risked his life in the process as well. "You know, before now, I considered you both to be trusted associates. But now, you're more than that, both of you. You're friends; true, honest to goodness friends. I thought Niket was that, but I was wrong; until the two of you, I haven't had friends. Not since I was in school, and none of them would have risked their lives for me, and for my sister, the way you two did. Thank you."

"We've been through a lot, Miranda," said Jacob. "Even before the Collectors hit. Surprised it took you this long to see that."

"Jacob, that's not what I …"

"Come on you two," Shepard interjected. "We just did something good, with zero moral ambiguity. Kind of refreshing, if you ask me. Jacob, Miranda's slow to trust. We're on the short list of people she considers friends. That's something to be happy about. Don't be resentful about how long it took."

"Sorry, Miranda," Jacob said tensely, visibly fuming.

"Jacob, you saw what I just went through," Miranda retorted, annoyed that Jacob was pressing this … she did not know what it was … here and now. "My father … you have no idea what he's like, Jacob. No amount of explanation can communicate it. He was … he was a monster. Niket thought that having his money made my life happy, but it was a living hell. The money wasn't a benefit … it was a prison."

"But you broke out," said Shepard. "You stood up on your own feet, rescued your sister, and went out and made a difference in the galaxy. You stuck to your guns, held to your principles. I admire that, Miranda." Then he looked at Jacob. "You too, Jacob. You joined Cerberus to make a difference in the galaxy, not out of xenophobia or any ulterior motive." Then he looked at both of them. "I had the best team in the galaxy when I fought against Saren and the Geth. The Collectors took me out of action, Kaiden died on Virmire, and the Alliance broke that team apart once I was gone. But now? This team is going to be even better."

"I'm sorry Operations Chief Williams blew you off, Commander," said Miranda. "I know she meant a lot to you, and whatever I think of her personally, she proved herself in the battle against Sovereign."

"Too bad she wouldn't join us," agreed Jacob. "She's a real powerhouse; we could have used her."

"Yeah, Ashley uninvited herself, but so what?" asked Shepard. "The people we've recruited are all top notch, including Jack and Grunt. Zaeed's every bit the ground pounder Ashley was, and most importantly, Garrus is back, and I've got the two of you. Jacob, you remind me a lot of Kaiden; you're both biotic, and smart as whips."

Then he looked into Miranda's eyes, holding her gaze. Miranda was transfixed. She felt the connection between them, one that transcended physical proximity. She had never experienced this with anyone before except John Amell, and that was so long ago. She felt as though Shepard could see into her very being. It was exhilarating, but also terrifying. Then he spoke.

"Miranda, you brought me back. Nobody else, literally nobody, would have done that. I don't know how Cerberus found me, and at this point, I don't even care. You brought me back. My life would be over if it weren't for you." He reached across and touched her cheek. "You're a miracle, Miranda. Don't ever forget that."

 _My God, if we were alone, this would be very different_ , she thought, trembling slightly at his touch. _Don't do it, Miranda_ , she said to herself. _Don't fall for him, not now. Too much is at stake! And you have a promise to keep_. But she knew it was too late. The best she could do was keep control over her feelings and keep things professional. She had to; this mission was far too important. But she hated that she had to. She looked down, finally able to avert her gaze, but as hard as she tried not to, she knew that she was showing far more emotion than she should. _Dammit, if we were just normal people_ , she thought. But then, as normal people, Shepard never could have stopped Saren, the Geth, or Sovereign, and she could never have brought him back to fight the Collectors. And they probably never would have met. It was just another reminder of the prison of her father's gifts; those gifts enabled her to be where she could meet the Commander, but at the same time, placed her in a position where she could do nothing about it. But she _could_ tell him one thing.

"Thank you, Shepard," she replied. "You mean a lot to me; what you've done for me, for Ori, and … well … it means a lot." She took his hand with her own before he had fully withdrawn it and held it for a long moment before letting go _. In another life_ , she thought, _or perhaps when this is all over, God forgive me, maybe we can actually have that 'another life' for real. My promise … I'm sorry John … Shepard has me undone._

The skycar docked at the Nos Astra Transport Hub, and the trio alit from the cab, Shepard tried to let Miranda go first, as she tried to do the same. They smiled and exchanged mirthful smiles, and then each tried to go first, which resulted in their gently bumping up against each other. It seemed as though they were about to share a kiss, but then Miranda said, "Sorry; that was my fault."

"Totally mine," replied Shepard. "Ladies first."

Miranda smiled back as she walked past him. He smiled back; how could he not? _She's beautiful_ , he thought. _And she's definitely my Miri_. So many years had passed since he had last seen Miri. But the connection was still there. _I need to tell her_ , he thought. _It's that promise we made that's holding her back … she still doesn't know it's me_.

Now that they were back at the hub, Shepard immediately got to work on Liara's request to hack terminals in the area. It did not take him long; he had found himself bereft of Omni-gel prior to the new security upgrades that nullified it, and had been forced to hack in the old fashioned way. Garrus and Kaiden had both taught him some tricks of the trade. Now, he was as proficient a hacker as most combat engineers, though he was nowhere near Tali, Garrus' or Miranda's league.

As he hacked the last terminal, Liara contacted him, asking him to check in with her as soon as he could. He made a note to do that, though he did not want to get too involved in Liara's side projects; friend though she was, he really needed to stay focused on the mission, and at this point, it did not seem as though investigating the Shadow Broker would intersect with stopping the Collectors. With that done, he went to visit Tracking Officer Dara, the contact Liara had given him to connect with the Justicar, Samara.

As the trio approached Officer Dara's remote office in the hub, a green skinned Asari woman seated on a bench saw him and stood, walking hurriedly to meet him.

"Commander Shepard," she called before closing the gap. Miranda's head jerked to look at the beautiful, but unusual looking Asari, almost as though someone had forcibly yanked the operative's head in the Asari's direction. Miranda looked … jealous? "Commander Shepard," repeated the woman as she reached the Commander. "I don't suppose you'd remember me. I'm Shiala; we met on Feros during the Geth attack."

Shiala, the Asari Commando whom Saren had traded to the Thorian in exchange for the Prothean Cipher, and who had also transferred to Saren's mind. Shepard had freed her, and then she had given him the Cipher as well, which ultimately enabled him to understand the visions from the Prothean beacons and discern the location of the Conduit. Without that, he would never have been able to succeed in his mission. After freeing her from the Thorian, she had stayed on to help the human colony of Zhu's Hope on Feros.

"Saren had given me to the Thorian creature as a slave," she continued, pacing back and forth nervously. "You killed it, and saved me. I promised to help Zhu's Hope recover, and I'm actually here on Illium for just that purpose."

"Is there something I can do to help?" Shepard asked, remembering what a miserable time the Zhu's Hope colonists were having of things in Feros after the Geth attack and their being used as living test subjects by Exogeni. If he could do anything to facilitate Shiala helping them, he would, so long as it would not derail him from his primary ojective.

"I'd appreciate it," replied the green Asari, who went on to explain that after the enslavement of the Colonists by the Thorian, they had suffered unusual health problems, ranging from headaches, shared sensations, and in Shiala's case, a change in skin color from blue to green. Baria Frontiers had offered medical treatment and scans to the colonists, but that buried in the small print was a contractual clause that allowed them to perform invasive procedures if they found anything of interest. And as it turned out, they had.

Shiala's mission was to talk to Erynia, the Baria Frontiers rep, whose kiosk was nearby in the Transport hub, and try to get her to change the contract. Unfortunately, Shiala's efforts had come to naught, and the cold hearted Erynia would not budge. Should the colonists refuse to allow the invasive procedures, they would be declared in breach of contract and be sued for far more money than they could afford. Even the legal fees of defending themselves in the suit were beyond their reach.

"I'll talk to the survey group," Shepard volunteered.

"I appreciate it, Shepard," Shiala replied gratefully.

Miranda and Jacob followed Shepard as he made his way to the Baria frontiers kiosk. She was familiar with predatory companies such as Baria, and how they preyed upon human colonists, who frequently were not well off and even more often, not highly educated. It was one of the things that had made her a supporter of Cerberus. She felt a degree of righteous indignation, but she was also anxious. As they approached the Baria Frontiers kiosk, it was clear why Shiala had made no headway. The rep, Eryinia, was waiting for them, a scowl on what would have been an otherwise lovely Asari face, and her body tense, wound up and ready for a confrontation.

"I saw your conversation, human," Erynia said condescendingly. "You're here to complain about the medical contracts those colonists from Feros signed. I suggest you leave. Your life is short enough. Do not waste what time you have bothering me."

 _Bitch_ , thought Miranda.

"Why are you insisting on these tests?" asked Shepard, ignoring the Asari's protestation. "What use could they possibly be?"

"Their use is not your concern," dismissed Erynia. "A legally binding contract was signed. Nothing else matters." Then she brushed them off with a wave of her hand and began lecturing them, all the while walking around as though she were an actress on a stage. "All you, Humans, Salarians, Turians; you come to our planet and complain that our laws don't suit you." Then said she turned and walked straight to Shepard and very hostilely said, "The galaxy would be a better place if nobody but the Asari had ever dragged themselves out of the primordial muck."

"Why are you so prejudiced against aliens?" Shepard asked dispassionately.

"Pheh," Erynia snorted derisively. "Where do I start? With Salarian explorers unleashing the Rachni on us, then unleashing the Krogan to correct their mistakes? Or the Turians, so eager to bomb every problem away? Or the Humans; the new arrivals who already think they should be in charge?" With each sentence, her voice rose in volume, intensity, and anger. Then she got quiet, but no less intense. "Every war that has plagued this galaxy has been caused by your people. My people's deaths are on your hands," she said, pointing directly to Shepard as she spoke.

 _Ridiculous_ , thought Miranda. _The woman is insane!_

Shepard folded his arms and looked down at her with disdain.

"You seem to forget that a Human saved you from Saren and the Geth," Shepard countered.

"The Geth created by the idiotic Quarians?" she asked defiantly as she began walking about again, her voice raising to its formerly high volume. "Led by a rogue Turian Spectre in an attack? The Geth didn't start at the Citadel! They attacked your human Colony, Eden Prime first. You humans brought the Geth upon us! You humans, and the Turians and the Quarians!" Then she shouted, pointing and reiterating, "My people's deaths are on your hands!"

"That sounds personal," observed Shepard. "Whose deaths are we talking about exactly?"

"My bondmate was killed on the Quarian homeworld during the initial Geth uprising," Eryinia explained sadly, the fury suddenly sucked out of her. Then she began crying, tears streaming down her face. She turned and walked to the railing by the kiosk and leaned against it, her back to Shepard. Then she spoke, just above a whisper. "My daughters died on the Citadel during the Geth attack. One worked in the embassy, the other was a greeter for the Consort." Then she straightened and turned around, her voice now at a conversational level, but hard, and cold. "I'm not speaking in hypotheticals, human. The aliens will never be my allies. The best they can do is give me useful medical data."

"Your bondmate was with the Quarians," observed Shepard, "and your daughters worked every day with aliens at the embassy and the Consort."

"And look what happened to them!"

"You've suffered, I get that," Shepard said, now condescendingly, now walking towards Erynia. "These colonists are trying to live peaceably, and they've suffered too. They've lost family to the Geth, and to the Thorian creature. Don't add to their anguish."

Erynia backed up until she hit the railing next to the kiosk. Then she slumped and collapsed, crying in a heap on the floor. Shepard walked over and offered his hand, helping the bitter Asari to her feet.

"I'm sending an amended contract," the weeping Asari said, her voice raspy and low. "No more tests, no more fees. There's enough grief in the galaxy. I don't need to add to it."

Miranda could hardly believe it as they walked back. Shepard had backed Erynia down with the sheer force of his personality. He never raised his voice or returned Erynia's insults; he simply stated the truth. Powerfully. And in the face of a xenophobic Asari. Suddenly, Miranda wondered if that was how Cerberus, and groups like Terra Firma and Earth First sounded to Shepard. _No_ , she thought, _we're not like that. We're not hateful like she was!_

"What a piece of work," exclaimed Jacob. "I can't believe you didn't let her get under your skin! I wanted just shake that woman and make her understand!"

"I knew her daughters," Shepard announced.

"You did?" Miranda was surprised that Shepard would have even remembered them.

"Yeah; when I first visited the Citadel after Eden Prime, her daughter at the embassy helped me learn my way around the place. Later, I had to settle a dispute involving an Elcor Diplomat, a Turian general, and the Consort, which is when I met the other one. They were both very helpful to me. I feel bad for Erynia. I understand why she's bitter."

Miranda realized that Shepard had lost a lot of friends and family over the years. His father died when he was very young; he lost squadmates on missions, Kaiden on Virmire, and more friends with the destruction of the old Normandy. Then he lost Ashley, though in her case, it was an emotional loss rather than a literal one. _Empathy_ , she thought. _He has so much empathy_. Then she berated herself for lacking empathy. She knew people thought of her as cold, but she could not help it; she had learned to keep people at a distance. Empathy opened one up to trust, and trust opened one up to being betrayed. She had learned that the hard way long ago.

Contrary to what people thought, Miranda was not at all devoid of emotion. In fact, she was very emotional. But she had bottled up her emotions long ago, keeping them well controlled. She never allowed herself to feel; that led to misjudgment and pain. Niket … he was the last to hurt her, and his cut was the deepest. They had been through so much … _can I ever trust that deeply again?_ She put that question aside as they approached Shiala.

"You did it! Shepard," exclaimed the green Asari as they met her, "they just sent over the revised contracts! You've saved Zhu's Hope again. I don't think I could have …" Downcast, she shook her head. "Is it always like this? Yesterday's problems lingering in some new form? Isn't anything ever just fixed?"

The irony of a woman over three centuries old asking Shepard, a man in his late twenties, questions about life, was not lost on Miranda.

"You've got the power to make a difference, Shiala," replied Shepard. "Not everyone does."

"You're right," agreed Shiala. "You gave us a chance by saving the colony. I can't let them down – I won't! Thank you for what you've done here, Shepard. I'll keep doing what I can." Then she got very close to the Commander and said, "Maybe some time when … I'm not organizing the colony, and you're … not doing whatever you do …" Then she touched Shepard's shoulder and looked at him longingly, pain and sadness mixed with the wistful dreaming of the man who had just saved Zhu's Hope again. Miranda thought the Asari was going to kiss the Commander, and felt a surge of jealousy, but Shiala did not. She abruptly looked away and walked off before she said anymore. Miranda felt the jealousy subside, replaced with … satisfaction? As though a rival had just been vanquished?

 _No_ , she thought, _this can't be happening_.

After getting a lead on Samara from Tracking Officer Dara, Shepard led them to Liara's office and gave her the data. This led Liara to explain that she was trying to locate a Shadow Broker agent known only as the Observer. Liara explained that with the data Shepard had obtained, data from various terminals in the trading floor could be reconstructed and analyzed to figure out who the Observer was. Her assistant, Nyxeris, explained that they had narrowed the Observer down to one of five agents, who were referred to only by profession and race; a Turian, a Salarian, a Krogan, and a Vorcha. Liara asked if Shepard would put his hacking skills to use once more, which he agreed to do before leaving.

Shepard hit the four terminals on the trading floor, and a fifth in Eternity. With the logs reconstructed, Shepard looked it over. A troubled look crossed his handsome face. _Yes_ , Miranda decided. _He's very handsome_. He contacted Liara.

"All five of the suspects are male," said Shepard. "Something's not right. Who gave you this information?"

"My assistant, Nyxeris," replied Liara. "She got the information … Nyxeris gave me the information." Then they heard her call, "Nyxeris, could I see you in here for a moment? Shepard, I'll talk to you later."

By the time they got to Liara's office, Nyxeris was dead. As it turned out, Nyxeris was the Observer. Liara boasted that she had found some "interesting data" on Nyxeris' computer, and thanks to Shepard, now she was that much closer to finding the Shadow Broker. Liara transferred five thousand credits to Shepard's account as thanks for his help. Then she said darkly,

"And when I find the Shadow Broker, I hit him with a biotic field so strong that what's left of his body will fit into a coffee cup."

"That anger can't be just from what you've told me," noted Shepard. "What else happened between you and the Shadow Broker?"

Liara looked at Miranda, and then stood and looked out the window, her back to the trio.

"Did Cerberus ever tell you how they recovered your body?" Shepard shook his head, but before he could respond verbally, Liara continued. "I gave it to them," she confessed. "I gave you to them, Shepard, because they said they could rebuild you."

Shepard suddenly was bold upright in the chair, shocked by the revelation, and Jacob looked sharply at Miranda, mouthing, "is this true?" Miranda nodded, silently, giving thanks for Liara finally revealing what Miranda herself could not.

"And to do that," Liara continued, sitting back down, "I had to take it from the Shadow Broker, who was going to sell your corpse to the Collectors."

Shepard turned and looked at Miranda, then back at Liara.

"Why didn't you tell me this before now?"

"Because, I screwed it up, Shepard," Liara confessed. "I barely escaped with my own life. And when I gave you to Cerberus, I told myself that I was doing it for you, for a chance to bring you back. But I knew Cerberus would use you for their own business. And I let it happen, because I couldn't let you go. I'm sorry."

"You did the right thing, Liara," Shepard said consolingly. "My mission is important, and I couldn't do it if you hadn't given me to Cerberus."

"Thank you," exclaimed Liara, her face brightening. "I … I was afraid you'd hate me. So that's why I must destroy the Shadow Broker. For what he did to my friend, and to you, and for whatever he's doing with the Collectors."

"Be careful out there, Liara," warned Shepard. "Don't turn into the thing you're hunting."

"Says the dead Spectre working for Cerberus," chided Liara. "Don't worry Shepard; I'm not my mother. Everything I'm doing, I'm doing of my own free will … for better or for worse."

The trio left Liara's office and went to meet Detective Anaya, who put them in touch with Samara directly. After obtaining the name of a ship that a fugitive the Justicar was chasing had taken, the beautiful Samara agreed to work with them. In the process, they exposed a Volus trader as a smuggler, and killed the Eclipse merc who had murdered the trader's partner. The detective even slid them some credits to thank them for their help. Through it all, Shepard handled himself with dignity, never failing to do the right thing. The Justicar was so impressed that she swore an oath of service, binding herself to Shepard's code for the duration of the mission. Miranda could never have obtained such an oath from a woman like Samara.

 _If things keep going like this? We just might survive this mission after all_ , Miranda mused.

With Oriana safe, the trio returned to the Normandy. It was time to take care of more personal business, and Shepard decided that dealing with the unstable Jack's request was at the top of the list now that he had helped Jacob and Miranda – especially Miranda! _What an eye opener_ , he thought. The façade of cold professionalism had completely fallen away, though at least with the crew, she had resumed it to some extent, but even that was less cold, less impersonal than before.

When the shuttle had again docked in the shuttle bay, Miranda had thanked him very warmly, and then immediately went to her cabin, almost breaking into a run to get to the lift. He noted that it was the exact same look Shiala had given him before walking away. Jacob shook his head, laughing bitterly at the absurdity of it all.

"She's got it bad, Shepard," he asserted. "And right while we're preparing for a suicide mission."

"What about you, Jacob? I get the impression that you and Miranda had something together at one time."

"Nothing romantic," explained Jacob. "We did have one of those 'moments' where things could have taken a romantic turn. Yeah, I'm attracted to her, no denying it; I mean come on – who wouldn't be? But she don't see it. She only sees the mission. And maybe you."

"Maybe," Shepard mused. "Hard to tell what she sees now."

"Now?" Jacob was puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Just thinking out loud."

Shepard entered the CIC only to be greeted by Kelly's cheerful announcement that he had message at his private terminal. He thanked the Yeoman and checked his messages, only to find that Oriana had already contacted him.

 _From: Oriana (Lawson)_

 _I hope this is the right Commander Shepard. I'm Oriana. My sister only told me a little, but I don't think it occurred to her that I'm as smart as she is. I poked around a little and found an information broker who got me this address._

 _I got to thank her, but I never got to thank you for helping me. My parents don't really understand it, but I know how much Miranda did, how many little things over the years were her looking out for me. I'm not going to tell them. I still want to go to school and get some degrees. But I wanted you to know that I know you saved me._

 _I had a guardian angel all these years. I don't know if my sister has anybody. She said she's working for you, and it was pretty clear that you were doing something dangerous. Make sure she comes back alive, okay?_

 _-Oriana_

 _PS: Don't tell her I sent you this. It would just make her angry._

 _PPS: Miranda, quit looking at Shepard's messages. Oh, don't act like you don't. It's what I'd do._

"She does have someone," he said softly. "You may not know it yet, Miranda, but you've got me. Without even trying, you've got me."


	13. Chapter 13: The Psychotic Biotic

**Chapter 13: The Psychotic Biotic**

Miranda sat at her desk reading Shepard's messages. She laughed loudly when she read Ori's admonition to "quit looking at Shepard's messages." She was not angry either. She imagined that Ori had managed to get in contact with Liara. She hated herself for reading Shepard's electronic correspondence, though she deduced that he had already figured it out; he had no outgoing correspondence whatsoever, and thus far, aside from Ashley's lame attempt at apologizing, and a letter from his mother, he had received nothing of a personal nature. Unfortunately, part of her job was, as Shepard himself had so eloquently stated, keeping an eye on him. And that included monitoring his communications. She had to laugh; he was a Spectre, and as such, could easily find a way to circumvent her efforts to monitor him if he wanted to. She suspected that he handled any deeply personal communication while he was away from the ship.

The door chimed, and she prompted it to open; she already knew who it was. Commander Shepard walked through the door. He had taken to wearing a black uniform with white trim, a garment that he had picked up on a mission with Kasumi early on. It was not a Cerberus uniform, but it really looked good on him

"Shepard, what can I do for you?" she asked pleasantly.

"I didn't want to ask you about this in front of Liara and Jacob," he said, "but why didn't you tell me that Liara brought me to you?"

"I wanted to, Shepard, believe me, I wanted to. I'm sure it would have made it easier for us to work together, but the Illusive Man felt that it was best that you not know, so he ordered me not to tell you. I don't know why, and I'm the only one in the project who knew how we obtained you."

"But Liara was under no such obligation, so now I know." He stood silently for a moment, and then smiled. "I suppose it's better this way, though. You won my trust on your own. Still don't trust Cerberus, but I do trust you, Miranda."

"That means more to me than you can possibly know," she said to him, relieved to hear it from him. "And I'm sorry for … well … the position I'm in with you. As you said when we first embarked on this mission; one of my jobs is keeping an eye on you. Though doing that has become very much my pleasure, believe me."

"Yeah, I know you're in my communications and such," he said, confirming what she had already surmised. But then he smiled mischievously, and said, "But to tell you the truth, I rather like knowing that you're keeping an eye on me."

"Oh really?" She perked up at this, and stood and leaned over the desk, her elbows on its surface and her chin resting in her hands. "You like knowing that I'm with you, watching you, even when we're technically off duty?"

"Yeah," he said. "I have nothing to hide, and I've had no life but this one since you brought me back. While you may be reporting on me to the Illusive Man, you're also invested in me personally. You want this mission to succeed, and keeping me in good condition is a necessity, but you care about me too, and I appreciate that."

She looked into his eyes for a few moments, neither of them speaking, and then sat back down. _Time to change topics_ , she thought.

"Thanks again, Shepard. Taking the time to help me with my sister … I couldn't have reached Oriana in time without your help." She got up from the desk. This was silly; having a conversation as friends with a desk between them just was not right to her. She walked to the coffee table and chairs by the picture window and sat in the chair to the right, motioning him to join her. "I'm glad Niket tried to redeem himself, for what good it did. Thank you for stopping me, Commander."

"Sounds like you had a soft spot for Niket after all," he observed as he joined her by the window, though he did not sit down.

"I didn't have many friends," she confessed. "Niket was one of them. He never wanted anything from me. He was … safe; comfortable. A reminder of a more innocent time, I suppose."

"Are you happy about your sister's relocation?"

"She has what I wanted her to have," Miranda explained. "A normal life, and the freedom to choose her own path. And she knows she has an older sister … a friend."

"Are you going to talk to her again?"

"I honestly don't know." She shifted in the chair, turning more towards the window. While she was turned away from Shepard, she could feel his presence. They did not have to have their eyes locked anymore; when they were together, the connection was strong no matter what they were doing. "For once, I haven't planned that far ahead. I'll deal with it after the mission. I need to stay focused, and she needs time to get used to her new home."

"You never told me what you talked about," he remarked.

"I introduced myself; her family was shocked! She adjusted quickly, of course. She's as smart as I am. She plays the violin; loves the Adagio movement of Nielsen's Fifth, just like I do. She wants to work in colony development. She told a joke about it. She's really funny. Something we don't share."

Shepard walked around now, interposing himself between her and the window. Seeing him against a backdrop of stars speeding by made her gasp slightly.

"It's funny; I think of you as all business," he said. "Glad to see there's a person under there."

Miranda stood and smiled at him. She wanted to embrace him, to kiss him, and to lose herself with him. She reached over and touched his right side, feeling the chiseled muscles through his uniform. She wanted to tell him that … that she loved him. He smiled at her, a truly happy smile, anticipating the kiss that they were about to share. Then she pulled back, and his smile gave way to puzzlement and disappointment.

"The mission's too important to let personal feelings interfere," she said. "But thank you, Commander. My sister is safe, thanks in large part to you. I won't forget that." She turned and went back to her desk. "I have some things I need to wrap up, but I look forward to chatting with you more." She could not help but smile at him the entire time. She kicked herself for spoiling the moment, but she could not let romantic feelings take her focus off of the mission.

"I'll let you work, Miranda," he said. "It was good talking with you."

Shepard left, and Miranda got back to writing her report. She typed a few meaningless sentences and then just sat, staring at the terminal, unsure of what to type. That's when Edi spoke.

"My diagnostics indicate that you have developed a strong emotional attachment to the Commander, Ms. Lawson."

"Edi, that is none of your …"

"It is my business, Ms. Lawson. The success of this mission is my business, and your success in particular is my business. Be careful how close you get to him, Ms. Lawson. Oriana is not the only one who is as smart as you are." With that, Edi cut the connection.

 _Edi won't have to keep us apart_ , she thought. _Even after the mission, I can't get involved with him; not as I am. It … it wouldn't be fair to him. And if I get involved, he'll find out the truth …_

Shepard wondered what was holding Miranda back. He surmised that it really was their childhood promise along with her desire to focus on the mission, but he could not help but think that there was something more. Not anything nefarious; he decided that if Cerberus wanted to screw him over, as capable as he was, they had him in the perfect situation to do it. If Miranda really was planning to sell him out, it would likely happen when he could not do anything about it. But he was convinced that she was genuine.

Of course, he had to admonish himself for not yet telling Miranda who he really was. What's holding me back? So far, he had been trying to figure out where she fit with Cerberus, but he had that pretty much figured out by now, as well as knowing her reasons for going to the organization in the first place. Telling her the truth was overdue at this point.

He took the lift to engineering and went down into the sublevel. There he met Jack. She sat on a cot, her head propped up in her hands, elbows on her knees. She wore little more than a thong over her breasts, and tight leather pants that left little to the imagination. Her tattoos were intricate, and even beautiful, but it was a dangerous beauty. She had wanted to see him, and he knew exactly what it was about. It did not take her long to get to it either. After a brief prelude about Cerberus, and how they had raised her in the Teltin Facility on Pragia, and what they had done to her in pursuit of creating the most powerful human biotic, she finally told Shepard what she needed.

"I want to plant a bomb in the middle of that place, my cell, and watch it blow up from orbit."

She steeled herself for the confrontation she thought she would have with Shepard over this, but he surprised when he said,

"I'll set a course for Pragia."

"Thanks, Shepard," she said cheerfully. "I owe you."

Miranda stepped out of the shuttle more confused and unsure of herself than she had been since she ran from her father. Cerberus had been her cause, her life, and indeed, her savior. But what she saw on Pragia … it was monstrous! It was everything her father had tried to do to her, only it was ten times worse! And it was to Jack, who she could not stand! The logs they found at the facility indicated that Teltin had gone rogue, but that could not have happened right away. Jack had been taken as an infant from God knows where, and had been subjected to brutal experiments, and other children used as test subjects to weed out what did not work, often killing them. _It wasn't really Cerberus_ , she said to herself emphatically. She just knew that it was not. But she had to know for sure; she had to know that she had not spent all of her adult life aiding an organization that was no better than her vile father. She did not wait for Shepard and Jack to disembark from the shuttle; she went straight to her cabin and contacted the Illusive Man.

"Your suspicions are correct, Miranda," the Illusive Man confirmed. "Teltin did indeed go rogue. Thankfully, Jack's escape put them out before they could do any real damage. It's unfortunate that you let Shepard blow up the facility, though; I would have thought you'd have worked harder to protect our assets."

"It was the only way to keep Jack from going psycho on us," she explained. "And that place was a wreck; we recovered all of the tech that remained, so there were no assets lost."

"I'm just glad we could clear this up, Miranda," replied the Illusive Man. "We need everyone at their best, and that includes you."

"I have to go, Sir; Jack is about to tear the door from the bulkhead."

Miranda cut the transmission as Jack forced the door open with her powerful biotics. Miranda had never encountered a biotic equal in any human, but Jack was most definitely her equal, possibly … her better!

"Tell me now, you sanctimonious bitch, how great Cerberus is!" Jack was shouting, her voice filled with rage, and her body primed for battle, crackling with biotic power.

"You heard the audio logs, saw the recording," replied Miranda, trying to mollify her. "Teltin had gone rogue! Cerberus would never allow that kind of …" Miranda dodged a chair that Jack had pulled and hurled at her from behind.

"Don't you dare defend those assholes! They're in it up their goddam eyeballs!"

"No, Jack," retorted Miranda, standing her ground. "We are not. That's not the business we're in! I came to Cerberus to get away from that kind of thing! My father …"

"Spare me your sob stories, you bubbled assed bitch! How come you can't just admit it? Why can't you just admit that they were fucking out of their minds?"

"Because it wasn't us!" Miranda could no longer tolerate this; not from Jack. It was too close to home for her. She had to draw a line and stick to her guns, no matter what. "Why can't you see that? It was in the bloody logs! That you read!" Now, she brought her own biotics to bear, her body crackling with energy. If Jack wanted a fight, she would have one. That's when she noticed that Shepard had entered the room. _Thank God_ , she thought.

"Touch me, and I'll smear the wall with you, bitch!" Jack hurled the poor chair at her again to emphasize the point. Miranda ducked, the chair narrowly missing her.

"Enough!" Shepard's bark was enough to freeze both women in their tracks. He wore no armor and carried no weapons, but they both knew better than to test him. "Stand down! Both of you!"

"The cheerleader won't admit what Cerberus did to me was wrong," growled a sullen Jack.

"It wasn't Cerberus," Miranda said tersely, "Not really. But clearly, you were a mistake." She stood with her arms folded, her confident and condescending air back in full.

"Screw you!" Jack turned and pointed, her finger less than an inch from Miranda's face. "You have no idea what they put me through! Maybe it's time I showed you!"

Jack was about to make good on her threat when Shepard interposed himself between them.

"My opinion is what matters," he growled. "You two keep a deck apart at all times."

"She can't be trusted, Shepard," Miranda exclaimed. "She'll jeopardize the whole mission!"

"If we survive this, you two can tear each other apart," he said, not budging. "Until then, save your hate for the Collectors."

"She'll survive. I'll make sure of it," Jack promised the Commander. Then she looked at Miranda, and said, "Then, I'll tear you apart myself." With her tantrum neutralized by the Commander, Jack left. Shepard held up a hand and stopped her for a moment, his eyes meeting Jack's gaze for just a moment.

"You two gonna be okay?" he asked.

Jack nodded, and then Shepard let her go.

"It's a good thing you came by when you did," said Miranda, sitting down. "As long as she does her job, I can do mine. Thanks Shepard."

Miranda was thoroughly embarrassed by what had just happened. Shepard left, undoubtedly disappointed with both women. Recruiting Jack had not been Shepard's idea; it was Cerberus, and straight from the Illusive Man. It was Cerberus who had put the money up to buy her from Purgatory. And it was Cerberus that had at least started the Teltin Facility. Where had it all gone wrong?

Shepard again went down into the bowels of engineering to check in with Jack. If need be, he would get her in line old school; Shepard had not always been an officer, after all. Having come up through the ranks as an enlisted man, Shepard had gone from a Marine Corps private to a Marine Corps sergeant, and had earned a reputation for being able to both lead his men, and to keep them in line when necessary. He was still an NCO during the blitz, and it was his actions in that conflict that put in motion the events that would lead to him becoming an officer in the Alliance Navy. He had biotics under his command before, and some of them had serious chips on their shoulders, L2s especially. They all had learned that with Shepard, biotics were worthless; Shepard had taken on Krogan battlemasters in close quarters and hand to hand combat and consistently won. He had been widely regarded as the toughest soldier to ever serve in the Alliance. Biotic soldiers would fall in line; they always did, and Jack would not be an exception.

To his surprise, however, she greeted him warmly.

"Hey," she said a bit sheepishly. "Sorry you had to see that."

"Thanks," he replied, surprised by her open demeanor. "I'm surprised you're being apologetic; you don't seem to concerned with what others think of you."

"I needed to wipe that place off the map," she explained. "You took me there and got it done."

"Do you think you're different as a person now?"

"I don't know. It helped, but sometimes, I just want to kill everyone I see, including you. No offense"

"I never thought I'd see you show mercy, Jack," he observed, "but you spared Aresh."

"He was trapped in the past. You showed how that could have been me." Jack leaned back on her bed and stretched out. "You have no idea what it's like to have stuff like that following you around. It marks you in ways you don't expect. But you took me back there and helped me. Thanks."

"I know you two don't get along, but you do realize that Miranda was with us, helping you."

"That's the only reason she's not a grease spot on the floor," growled Jack, not wanting to be reminded of Miranda's involvement.

"Jack, I've seen you grow as a person since you've come aboard, and though I never would have thought it, I actually like you. I grew up on ships and made a career in the military. I've served with men and women who were like brothers and sisters to me. We all had the military as our family, you know." Then he turned to her and said, "But I never had an actual brother or sister, you know; not a military brother or sister. But you? If I had a sister, you'd be it."

"Really? You really think I'm like family to you?"

"In a delinquent little sister kind of way, yeah."

"Never had anyone I thought of like that," Jack lamented. "I learned to make it on my own. You can't depend on anyone, Shepard. Everyone wants something, and everyone works the angles to get it. You? I can't figure you. But maybe you're the real deal. I don't trust anyone, but if ever did, it'd be you."

"We all change, Jack. We all grow. You've grown, Jack, but so has Miranda. Give her a chance. She's going through something; I don't know what it is, but she's not the woman I met a few short months ago."

"You heard what that bitch said to me!" Jack's temper flared again, but Shepard held up his hand.

"Yeah, after you forced your way into her cabin and tried to pulverize her," he reminded her. "Come on, Jack. Cut her some slack; if she kissed your ass, you wouldn't respect her anyway, would you."

"I guess not," she muttered. "I can get through this mission without killing her, Shepard. I owe you that." Then she brightened up. "Besides, you find better fights than anyone I've ever met. Lookin' forward to really cuttin' loose."

"Glad to hear it," Shepard said, relieved to have settled Jack down.

They had just returned from Haestom, and Tali Zorah Vas Neema had actually made a leave request to the Migrant Fleet in order to join Shepard's mission. She had been on the mission to Haestrom with Shepard and Garrus, and with her own engineering skills, she found that the three of them made great Geth fighters. Garrus' engineering skills far outstripped her own, though he had no biotic capability. Of course as a soldier, he was Turian; soldiering was so ingrained in their culture that he was on par with any N7 marine, excepting Shepard himself. As a trio, they were practically unstoppable. Even the Geth Colossus, something most people fought against in armored vehicles, they had faced on foot, along with a platoon of Geth. And they won! Shepard could do a lot with a very small team, and in the case of Garrus and herself, Shepard had a lot to work with. They had alternated formations, taken up positions that maximized their abilities, and had plowed through the Geth without any real trouble at all. While she and Garrus used tech and biotic attacks to hammer the Colossus' shields, Shepard pumped round after round into it, actually taking it out with a rifle, rather than use heavy weapons.

Once the Colossus fell, the rest of the Geth fell quickly, unable to withstand the three of them. Kal Reeger, the Quarian marine who was all that remained of Tali's team, was impressed beyond measure. And Tali needed no more convincing to join Shepard's mission than his asking. Miranda noticed that Shepard made friends and won the respect of those he encountered equally well among both Humans and aliens. It was not his species that had impressed Nihlus two years ago, but Shepard's skill. It was how he had become a Spectre. It was how he had assembled the team to take down Saren, Sovereign, and the Geth. And it was how he was building the team now to face the Collectors.

Miranda had joined Cerberus to make Humanity strong, and to protect Human culture and interests. Everything was about maintaining separation from the aliens and keeping them from encroaching on Humanity. But she was beginning to think that Shepard had a better way. His actions in saving the Council had earned Humanity a lot of respect, and had made Shepard very well liked throughout Citadel Space, and he was respected in the Terminus systems even by his adversaries. Shepard's way was to not separate from the Aliens, but to join in galactic society and bring the strengths of Humanity to the table. Aliens who saw Shepard in action were now seeing Humanity through the lens of Shepard's deeds, and they wanted to see more. They wanted to work with the species that had birthed the hero of the Citadel. After seeing how Shepard accomplished his goals without a win-at-any-cost methodology, goals that were considered impossible until he exceeded them, she was beginning to wonder if Cerberus may actually have it wrong.

Miranda took stock of things and was very pleasantly surprised. The Illusive Man still had not found a way through the Omega-4 Relay, but in terms of preparation, they had far exceeded what Miranda had hoped, especially this early on. There were still more people to recruit, and there were issues that Mordin and Grunt needed addressed on Tuchanka, but looking at the team so far, she was impressed. Not only that, each new team member brought with them ideas that Shepard was able to use to further upgrade the ship with the resources they had gathered along the way. Garrus had managed to install the Thanix weaponry, a huge bonus against the Collector ship, and Jacob had both managed to make use of his contacts in the Alliance to upgrade the ship's armor. Doctor Chakwas had completely updated the med-bay, and Mordin, Jack, and Grunt had each found ways to enhance the performance of Shepard's fire teams. Even Miranda had found a way to enhance the scanning capabilities of the Normandy, enabling them to more easily seek out and obtain the resources they needed for upgrades and mods.

Tali, though she did not warm to Cerberus, had modified the ship's shields, making them much more resistant to enemy fire. Between her shield upgrades, Jacob's plating upgrades, and Garrus' weapons upgrades, the ship was stronger than ever, and ready to stand up against the Collectors. And all of the Alien crew had mixed well with the Normandy's Cerberus crew. That surprised Miranda the most. It seemed, however, that Shepard's multi-cultural/multi-species attitudes, combined with his successes and his prior reputation, had really made an impression on the crew. And on Miranda herself.


	14. Chapter 14: The Secret Revealed!

**Chapter 12: The Secret Revealed!**

Miranda was about to have Kelly send for Shepard when door chimed, and she saw that Shepard was already here to meet her. Though she was trying to maintain a bit of professional distance between them, she still felt a rush of excitement.

"Commander, what can I do for you?"

"Do you have a minute, Miranda?" he asked.

"Of course. I'm just finishing an operation report," she replied. "I'm impressed, Shepard. So far, things have gone exceptionally well. As Cerberus operations go, this is one of the best I've been a part of." Actually, it was the best, but she did not want to give that away.

"Maybe because this isn't a Cerberus operation."

"Not to you, maybe," she conceded. "But I believe in Cerberus and what we do. Cerberus gave you a second chance, Commander. Maybe you should do the same for us."

"Cerberus obviously has your loyalty," Shepard observed. "How did you get involved with them?"

"Hmmm … I suppose you've earned the right to know." She collected her thoughts for a moment and looked down. This would be difficult, but she wanted to tell him. Sharing this was … deeply personal for her. This was more than just surface matters, and she had never shared this with anyone; only the Illusive Man knew her background, and that had been through his own investigations, not through her telling him. She motioned for Shepard to join her behind her desk and sit in the extra chair. Once he was seated, Miranda began.

"Do you remember when I told you how I was genetically altered? Well, that wasn't my choice. My father … created me." She shuddered as she thought about the enormity of it. "He's a very influential man and extremely controlling. He didn't want a daughter … he wanted a dynasty. I ran away as soon as I was old and brave enough. I went to Cerberus because I knew they could protect me."

"You seem capable of defending yourself," Shepard told her. "Why did you need Cerberus?"

"My father invested a great deal in his dynasty," she replied. "It wasn't a matter of just leaving … I knew he would continue to pursue his ... investments."

"I assume that Cerberus approves of your enhanced abilities?" Shepard half asked/half declared.

"Of course," she explained. "Cerberus fully endorses anything that advances the cause of Humanity … genetic alterations included. But unlike Father and his selfish reasons, Cerberus and the Illusive Man believe in a greater good. They see the bigger picture … and I feel like I have a purpose here."

"Who exactly is your father?"

"He's a businessman; a very wealthy one. It's ironic; my father believed deeply in a human positive agenda. He donated generously to Cerberus … before I joined them. That's how I first heard about Cerberus … through my father's connections."

Shepard shook his head. "Miranda, you talk about yourself like you're just a … tool to be used. By your father, by Cerberus."

"Maybe," she conceded. "I like to know where I fit in the world. It helps me find meaning in how I was created."

"You are who you are, Miranda. You don't need to make excuses for it."

"That's easy for you to say. We've both been engineered for greatness Shepard. The difference is, you were great before we rebuilt you. I'm great because of it."

"Your spirit and personality are what make you great," he countered. "It's what makes anyone great."

"That's kind of you … I'm not sure I believe you, but thanks for saying it." She felt her eyes misting over. "Only one other person ever said anything like that to me … and that was a lifetime ago."

"I know."

"No, I'm afraid you can't … not truly."

Then he said the words that made the color drain from her face: "John Amell."

"How do you know that name?" Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

"Miri, don't you remember?" It was the first time Shepard had called her by her diminutive.

Miranda was silent for a long moment, unable to avert his gaze. "I remember like it was yesterday," she whispered. "But how do you know about him?"

"Miri, you're worth everything to me," he said, repeating word for word what John Amell had said to her two decades ago. "Your experiences make you who you are, just like anyone else. You're a wonderful person, Miri. That kind of thing can't be programmed. Besides, don't we all inherit our genetics from someone? It isn't what we inherit, but what we do with it."

"You ..." she finally managed to gasp. "How did you …"

"Know that? Easy," he explained. "You left in 2167. I met you in the diner just as Niket was leaving. After you left, my mother's boyfriend became more and more abusive. One day, I caught him beating her, and it would have been to death if I hadn't intervened. I shot him dead. My mother survived, and changed her name and mine to Shepard, after my father. I avoided juvie in exchange for going to military school. I became a marine after that. Admiral Hackett made sure that all records of John Amell were expunged. When I became a Spectre, all record of my life as John Amell was erased."

"You … you're really …?"

"It's me, Miri. You remember our promise?"

She nodded. "I've never loved another. I've never been with a man; I swore I'd wait for you."

"I did too, Miri. I waited for you, turning away all others. You're the only woman I've ever loved."

"Why … why didn't you tell me?"

"I had to be sure that it was you, Miri," he explained. "And once I was certain, I needed to understand why you were with Cerberus. I needed to know that … that you were still the girl I loved … the girl who I spied in the window of the house across the street, who bounded outside and introduced herself."

"I'm afraid the innocence of that little girl is long since gone, John. My father made sure of that long before I left home for the last time." She felt her heart pounding as she finally realized that she could at last give into her feelings for Shepard. Miranda stood and reached across her desk to grab his shoulders and pull him across, and then kissed him deeply and passionately.

John reciprocated, standing with her, as the two of them walked together, lips locked, Miranda out from behind the desk, and Shepard with her. Once they were past the desk, she pulled him into her arms, while he wrapped his own arms around her, his hands rubbing her back, finding every knot and tight muscle, and relieving the tension as he kissed her hungrily. Miranda had not freed herself from her self-imposed emotional restraints in two decades, and she felt wonderful. They kissed for what seemed like an eternity, but when they finally broke for air, it had only been about five minutes.

"Your backrubs are to die for, John."

"You're to die for, Miranda," he replied. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"No, you were right not to," she assured. "You had to be sure. If you weren't this would not be so wonderful. But … where do we go from here?"

"Through the Omega 4 Relay," he answered. "We take down the Collectors and see exactly what their connection to the Reapers is. Now that we're both on the same page, while the Illusive Man finds a way through the relay, let's catch up, get to know each other again. We've both kept our promise. I'd hate to think that after all these years denying ourselves the company of the opposite sex, we'd be unable to connect again."

Miranda kissed him again. "We are able to connect, John."

He took her hands, and kissed her. "Then let's make that connection stronger. We get out of this, we can look into some of the other things we said we wanted to do."

 **{-O-}**

It did not take long for others to notice the new closeness between Shepard and Miranda. They were seen in one another's company often, and Miranda showed new found warmth towards the commander. While there was no untoward behavior on the part of either of them, they had become very affectionate. The biggest change was Miranda's presence in the CIC. Where she had rarely been in the CIC before, she began maintaining a regular presence there, and even checked in on Joker once in a while. Mission related conversations that used to be had with Shepard via e-mail were now conducted in person in the CIC, and all saw Miranda happy, often laughing and even giggling. Nobody complained … most welcomed the new, friendlier Operative Lawson, it was out of place.

Miranda exited the lift one afternoon, and found herself confronted by Jacob Taylor. At first, she though it was going to be an awkward conversation, but instead, he greeted her like the friend she had once had in him, no trace of sarcasm or animosity.

"Hey, Miranda," he said. "Got a minute?"

"Certainly, Jacob," she replied carefully. "What is it?"

"Can we talk in the armory? Not the CIC? It's nothing bad, but it's not for the crew."

She nodded, and followed him into the armory, maintaining a professional distance from him. She doubted that he would attempt a physical confrontation in response to her closeness with Shepard, but she needed to be wary, just in case.

"I've noticed you and Shepard are a lot closer now," he opened.

"Yes, we are," she replied carefully. "What of it?"

"Just … I know I wanted things to go further with us," he said. "But I've never seen you this happy, Miranda. It's nice to see you like this. I'm happy for you, both of you."

 _Now this is unexpected_ , she thought. She was trying to read whether he was faking it or was being genuine, and she was certain that he was genuine.

"Jacob, I … I think there's something you should know."

"You don't owe me," he replied, holding up his hands. "You weren't interested, and I should have respected that. I didn't, and I'm sorry. I was out of line."

"It isn't that," she clarified. "It's … well, you're a friend, and I think you should know. I've never talked about my childhood with you in any detail … it was painful." She looked down, holding her head for a moment. "The only thing that kept me from going crazy was a young man named John Ammel. He was a neighbor, a little younger than me. His mom was a marine named Hannah Ammel. She was a nice lady … but she had an abusive boyfriend. John and I were like two peas in a pod." She shook her head, smiling as she recalled. "My father was crazy … his potential step father was crazy … I had no friends, but he was there, accepting me as I was."

"How old were you when you met?" Jacob asked.

"Twelve … he was eight," she recalled. "We were just kids … but when we became teens, our childhood friendship became romantic. Nothing physical, mind you; I was a gawky, gangly teen, Jacob, and I was frequently reminded of it by my father, and the kids at school. John Ammel … to him, I was never anything less than beautiful. He loved me, Jacob. I had never been loved. It was alien to my father." She leaned back and emitted a contented sigh. "But not to him. He loved me as much as a boy could love a girl, and his mother always made me feel at home."

"Whatever happened to him?"

"I turned sixteen and rescued my sister," Miranda explained, deflating a little. "The magic of that summer, the childhood crush, puppy love … it all came crashing down. I had a friend … Niket … he covered for me. He wanted more than I was willing to give, but he covered nonetheless. John only met him once; the day I left with Ori. He hated Niket, almost on sight."

"Sounds like this John Ammel had good instincts," Jacob mused.

"The best," Miranda agreed. "We promised that day to find each other in the future, to remain true to each other. It was that promise, a promise made to a tall, mature, but still only twelve year old boy that kept me out of any romantic relationship."

Jacob raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I get why you weren't into me, but … how does Shepard rate?"

Miranda smiled reflexively thinking about him. "Well … after I left, I joined Cerberus. John Ammel vanished. I couldn't find him, couldn't find anything about him. It was not until Shepard that I learned the truth; the year after I left, John Ammel had come home to see his mother's boyfriend beating her to death. He shot the man dead, apparently taking him apart with a Kessler."

Jacob's eyes went wide. "I remember those pistols. To do that you'd have to …"

"Fire till it overheated, let it cool down, and then fire till it overheated again."

"Damn."

"Yes," Miranda agreed. "Only because of the condition of his mother, and the record the police had of her boyfriend's abuse, was he not tried as an adult and sentenced to death … or life in some hell hole. His mother had to have plastic surgery, and never did look the same, from what I understand. She changed her name to that of John's father, an officer who had died in the line of duty. His name was Shepard."

"You mean … John Ammel is … Shepard?"

"Yes," Miranda gushed, giggling in spite of herself.

Jacob unexpectedly hugged her. "Miranda, this is great! I had no idea."

"Thank you, Jacob. Then she got quiet, downcast. "Unfortunately, I don't know that I'm good enough for him."

"What? Miranda, you're crazy! Just because he's a hero …"

"It's not that," she exclaimed. "Jacob … you know about my father's … tailoring of my genetics. You know how I was created."

"Yeah, but …"

"But there is a defect, Jacob, one that I cannot overcome." As happy as she had been only moments ago, she began crying. She could not believe she was doing this in front of Jacob. "I can't have children."

"So?"

"Jacob, we talked about having a family," she exclaimed. "He wants kids!"

"Miranda, Shepard and I talk pretty frequently, and I know we aint real close, but he seems like more of a career military guy if you ask me."

"He hasn't talked about it since his resuscitation, but …"

"Come on Miranda; a guy like that? He kept the promise he made to you?"

She nodded silently.

"Miranda, any man who'd turn down women for almost twenty years because he's waiting for aint gonna care if you can't have kids. And take it from me; I'm a man, I know."

"Thank you, Jacob," she said. "That helps."

"Anytime, Miranda."

 **{-O-}**

At long last, the secret had been revealed. With his identity now known to Miranda, much of the tension between them had evaporated. She seemed more sure of herself, thought he sensed that there was still something bothering her. Whatever it was, it would work itself out. Shepard's big concern was Cerberus. Miranda was not like Jacob. Where he had been recruited, joining out of what he felt was necessity due to Alliance ineptitude, Miranda had gone _to_ Cerberus on her own, and clearly believed in what the organization stood for. To Miranda, Cerberus was not anti-alien. She was not totally blind; she had issues with some of the same things Shepard did, but she saw the organization as largely beneficent.

There would come a time, when this mission was done, that she would be forced to choose between him and Cerberus. He would not force that choice on her, but he knew that it would ultimately come down to that. Shepard could never truly join Cerberus, and would return to the Alliance and the Council, serving as a Spectre. This would put him at odds with Cerberus no matter how he felt about Miranda, and would dash any chances they had to make a life together. If the Reapers were not a factor, he might simply write a book, retire, and live off the royalties. Then he could marry Miranda and respect that her work was her work, but this was not to be. The Reapers _were_ coming, and the Collectors were proof of that.

He could not make it his life's mission to convert her either; she needed to see it on her own. Putting Cerberus down would only antagonize her, and make her dig her heels in, becoming even more defensive of the organization that had helped her with Oriana. He felt like the cracks were starting to show in the Cerberus veneer, and that was without any help from Shepard. Praggia had been a start. No, Shepard resolved to not go after Cerberus in conversation beyond maintaining why he was not interested in joining. Instead of telling her how bad the organization was, he would need to show her a better way.


	15. Chapter 15: The Collector Ship

**Chapter 15: The Collector Ship**

"Patching the Illusive Man through, Commander," said Joker over the intercom as Shepard entered the conference room. The table sank into the floor, revealing the QEC pad for Shepard to stand on. He strode up to it and stepped in to the circle, his image being digitized and uploaded into the system. Before him, the Illusive Man's image materialized. This time, the Illusive Man was standing against the cosmic backdrop, his chair nowhere to be seen, smoking a cigarette. Shepard suspected that the Illusive Man's entire floor was rigged to transmit his image, so as to allow him to move about during conversation.

"Shepard – we caught a break. I intercepted a distress call from a Turian patrol. They stumbled onto a Collector ship beyond the Korlus System. The Turians were wiped out, but not before they crippled the Collector vessel. I need you to board that ship and get some hard data on the Collectors. Find us a way to get to their homeworld."

"Hard to imagine how a Turian patrol could take out a Collector ship," exclaimed Shepard.

"Reports indicate that the hull is intact, but all systems seem to be offline. They could be making repairs as we speak. I'm not saying it won't be dangerous, but we can't let an opportunity like this slip by."

"If they had a patrol out there," asked Shepard, "why aren't the Turians sending a recon team in?"

"They will. Eventually. But I intercepted the transmissions. In the meantime, we're feeding them false information. You're close enough that you can be in and out before the Turians learn the truth."

"You sure this information's good?" Shepard asked, feeling that something was off about this.

"Information is my weapon, Shepard. It's good."

"Send me the coordinates and I'll take care of it," Shepard replied, deciding that he would play along without asking too many questions for now. _Give Cerberus a second chance, Miranda said. Okay_ , he thought. _This is your second chance_.

"Already sent. Once you're aboard the ship, establish an uplink with Edi. She'll mine their data for information regarding the Omega 4 relay. Good luck Shepard."

The Illusive Man took one last drag on his cigarette before cutting the connection. Shepard always looked at the Illusive Man's eyes. This time, he could see them very clearly at the end. There was something about them; something … unnatural.

"Coordinates punched in," said Joker over the intercom as the Illusive Man's image faded and the table came back up. "Let's go find us a Collector ship."

 **{-O-}**

Miranda joined Shepard and Joker in the cockpit as the Normandy closed in on the Collector ship. They were still a very long ways off, but she could actually _see_ the Collector vessel. The closer they got, the larger it loomed in the windows, until it literally filled them.

"We have a visual on the Collector ship," Commander, announced Joker.

"Very low emissions," added Edi. "Passive infrared temperatures suggest most systems are down. Thrusters are cold."

"That thing is massive," Joker exclaimed. He then turned to Shepard and asked, "How the hell did the Turians take it out?"

Shepard had no answer. As the Normandy pulled up alongside the Collector Ship, Miranda had her first up close look at it. Seeing it in the distance from the ground on Horizon was impressive, but as the looked out the window and saw nothing but Collector ship, all of her confidence in the upgraded Normandy evaporated. The ship was over a kilometer and a half long, and her beam a third as wide. Large sections of what had once been an asteroid made up the frontal half of the ship's outer hull, and her main gun was larger than the Destiny Ascension in its entirety. Only Sovereign was larger. By the time the Normandy found a point for the shuttle to enter, Miranda was having serious doubts about their ability to survive this, should the Collector ship come back online.

"Ladar scans detect no hull breaches on the side facing us," said Edi. "I detect no mass effect field distortions. It appears the drive core is offline."

"Rendezvous in thirty seconds, Commander. Good luck," said Joker.

"Come on," said Shepard. "Let's get to the shuttle."

"Shepard," said Miranda as they made their way to the lift, "Is this what it was like for you when they attacked?"

"No," he replied smugly. "They had their engines going and were coming at us full bore. All we saw was the gun in the front."

"My God, Shepard; if that things powers up, we're dead!"

"Miranda, it's just another mission," Shepard explained, stopping and facing her. "Don't let the scale of it distract you; we'll find a way. Remember, we beat Sovereign because it linked its consciousness with Saren; when I killed Saren permanently, it caused a momentary power fluctuation that lowered its shields and disabled its weapons. That's when we took it out. The Reapers, for all their age and intelligence, proved that day that they are not infallible. And neither are the Collectors." He then pulled her close for a moment and kissed her. "We'll get through this, Miranda. Never doubt it."

There was not a trace of fear in his voice. Instead, he was a picture of calm and confidence. Her own confidence returned and she put it into perspective; this was a covert operation, not a dogfight, and covert ops was her forte. After facing the Geth and the Collectors with Shepard and Garrus, she felt confident in her ability to face the Collectors in battle once they boarded. They met Garrus at the shuttle, and he looked like he was actually excited.

"Finally Shepard," the Turian exclaimed, "we're taking the fight to them!"

"Let's hit 'em hard, Garrus, just like old times!"

"Better," said Garrus. "With Miranda along? We'll kick some ass!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," she said. "That's a high compliment coming from you."

"You've earned it, Miranda," replied the Turian. "We could have used you two years ago."

"You had others then," said Miranda. "But you've got me for this one. And believe me; I'm in it till we finish this fight."

"Shepard, I think she's one of us now," remarked Garrus happily.

"She always was," replied Shepard. "We just hadn't found her yet."

The pre-mission banter with Shepard and Garrus was something that Miranda had never experienced with Cerberus. Camaraderie like this was something that simply was not a part of Cerberus makeup. Even with Jacob, there was nothing like what she experienced with Shepard, Garrus, and even Tali. Miranda had never been in the regular military, but she imagined that this was more common there than in an organization like Cerberus. She liked it; it made her feel as though she belonged. As they boarded the shuttle and headed over to board the Collector ship, Shepard got into mission details and strategy, but he kept that air of camaraderie alive throughout.

When the shuttle finally landed, he said, "Alright, people, let's move out!"

"Yes sir!" exclaimed Miranda in spite of herself.

 **{-O-}**

As they made their way through the massive ship, it seemed to them to be like the inside of a giant bee hive. Edi informed them that penetrating scans had detected an access node to uplink with the Collector's databanks, and sent the nav-point to their hardsuits' computers.

"Anyone get the feeling that this is just a bit too easy?" asked Shepard.

"Yeah, I do," replied Garrus.

Miranda had been thinking the same thing; an open port on the side, and a ready rout to the node that they needed seemed just a bit too convenient. She was glad Shepard had noticed as well. The interior was impressively large, with room enough for plenty of victims. They penetrated further into the ship, finding empty pods, discarded human test subjects, Edi made a further announcement.

"Shepard, I've compared the ship's EM signature to known Collector profiles. It is the same ship you encountered on Horizon."

"Maybe the defense towers softened it for the Turians," Shepard suggested.

"The missing colonists might be aboard," added Garrus. "If they're still alive."

But the further they went into the ship, the more bodies they found. Nothing marked any of them as the missing colonists, but there was nothing to make the trio hopeful. Then, they came across the most striking piece of information thus far; a Collector test subject. It was in one of the same pods that the colonists had been placed in, but without a lid. Diagnostic equipment was hooked to it.

"That's a Collector," remarked Miranda. "Were they experimenting on one of their own?"

"Edi," said Shepard, "I'm uploading the data from this terminal. See if you can figure out what they were up to."

"Data received," came Edi's rapid response. "The Collectors were running baseline genetic comparisons between their own species and humanity."

"They're looking for similarities?" Shepard seemed dubious, but it was the logical conclusion.

"I have no hypotheses on their motivations," replied Edi. "All I have are preliminary results. They reveal something remarkable. A quad-strand genetic structure identical to traces collected from ancient ruins. Only one race is known to have this structure: the Protheans."

"My God," exclaimed Shepard, staggering back a step as he recoiled from the Collector. "The Protheans didn't vanish! They're just working for the Reapers now."

"These are no longer Protheans, Shepard," countered Edi. "Their genes show signs of extensive genetic rewrite. The Reapers have repurposed them to serve their needs."

"You'd think someone would have picked upon this," Shepard said absently.

"No one has had an opportunity to study a Collector genetic code in this detail," explained Edi. "I have already matched two thousand alleles to recorded fragments. This Collector likely descends from a Prothean colony in the Styx-Theta cluster. But there are signs of extreme alteration. Three fewer chromosomes. Reduced heterochromatin structure. Elimination of superfluous junk sequences."

"The Reapers didn't wipe out the Protheans," Shepard exclaimed. "They turned them into monsters and enslaved them!" But he quickly overcame the initial shock and said, "Still, they're working for the Reapers now, and we have to stop them."

"Shepard, we can't allow them to do to us what they did to the Protheans," Miranda exclaimed, horrified at the thought.

"Let's find what we need before the Collectors come to salvage this vessel," replied Shepard. "Move out!"

They found nearby a discarded sniper rifle, taken from a human victim, no doubt. It was a Widow Anti-Matter Sniper Rifle, and was meant to be mounted to a vehicle or a tripod. Miranda observed that it had to weigh a ton! Shepard picked it up as though it weighed nothing, checked it, and finding that it was still usable, slung it over his back and moved on.

"Commander," said Joker over the com, "On a hunch, I asked Edi to run an analysis on this ship."

"I compared the EM profile against data recorded by the original Normandy two years ago," declared Edi. "They are an exact match."

"The same ship dogging me for two years?" asked Shepard. "Way beyond coincidence."

"Something doesn't add up, Commander," warned Joker. "Watch your back."

As they moved further into the ship, it opened up into a large, open area, lined with pods. They soon realized that this was the primary purpose of the ship, and that the corridors and passageways were built within the structure.

"They could take every human in the Terminus Systems and still not have enough to fill all these pods," Miranda exclaimed, horrified as the Collectors' objectives were becoming more clear.

"They're going to target Earth," Garrus said darkly.

"Not if we stop them," countered Shepard.

"Shepard, there's something wrong," noted Miranda. "Where are the bodies of the Collectors? Something's not right here."

Shepard nodded, as they arrived at the data node Edi had found earlier. They connected and Edi began the datamining process. Suddenly, there was a power fluctuation, and they heard systems coming online.

"What the hell just happened?" asked Shepard tersely.

"Major power surge," replied Joker. "Everything went dark, but we're back up now."

"I managed to divert the majority of the overload to noncritical systems," said Edi. "Shepard, it was not a malfunction. This was a trap."

They soon found themselves in the fight of their lives, as floating platforms came with Collector troops and Scions, with Harbinger possessing individual Collectors at random. With very little room to maneuver, all they could do was take cover and fire back. Miranda's shields took more than they could withstand and her armor then did the same. She was actually taking fire, and lots of it. She dispensed medigel, and kept fighting, but soon found that she was healing herself almost as much as she was fighting, and running out of medigel fast. As Scion's shockwave hit them and everything went black as she lost consciousness.

Miranda woke up to find Shepard administering medigel and first aid to her.

"You okay, Miranda?" he asked, concern in his voice.

"I am now," she groaned, sitting up. "What happened?"

"You took out a lot of them before that Scion took you out," he explained. "Garrus and I took down the rest."

He helped her to her feet gently, and she leaned on him to steady herself. Shepard then went over to the console and activated it again. Edi's image appeared atop it.

"I have regained control of the platform, Shepard."

"I knew you wouldn't let us down, Edi," replied the grateful Shepard.

"I always work at optimal capacity," the AI informed him.

"Did you get what we needed?" Shepard asked, looking hopeful.

"I found data that could help us successfully navigate the Omega-4 Relay," Edi declared. "I have also found the Turian distress call that served as the lure for this trap. The Collectors are the source. It is unusual."

"Seens logical to me that they would have sent the initial message as bait," replied Shepard, clearly surprised at Edi's statement.

"No," clarified Edi. "It is unusual because Turian emergency channels have secondary encryption. It is corrupted in the message. It is not possible that the Illusive Man would believe the distress call was genuine."

"Why are you so sure?" asked Shepard, his voice tinged with suspicion.

"I found the anomaly with Cerberus detection protocols," Edi explained. "He wrote them."

" _He knew it was a trap?_ " Joker was heard by all over the com. " _Why would he send us into a trap?_ "

"We don't have time to throw blame around," Shepard said calmly. "We'll question him when we're out."

"This is a bad time to become an optimist, Shepard," Garrus admonished.

"No," cried Miranda. "The Commander's right! There must be some other explanation."

" _Commander_ ," said Joker, ending the speculation, " _We've got another problem. The Collector ship is powering up. You need to get out of there before their weapons come online. I'm not losing another Normandy!_ "

"You heard the man," said Shepard. "Let's move!"

Edi sent coordinate for shuttle extraction, but they had to fight tooth and nail to get there. They faced Collectors, Scions, husks, exploding husks, and one of those large Praetorian things that they had faced on Horizon. All the while, Harbinger possessed and enhanced individual Collectors. The fight was brutal, much more so than any prior fight Miranda had experienced. Shepard was a juggernaut of destruction, but Miranda found herself nearing unconsciousness more than once, only to be revived by either Shepard or Garrus, both of whom had heavier armor and were physically much tougher than she was.

Finally, they were in the home stretch, and they had to fight their way through a mob of husks. They had no weapons; they just swarmed them in numbers so great that the trio could not shoot them down faster than they replenished. Miranda felt herself losing consciousness again, but Shepard grabbed her before she fell.

"I've got you, Miranda," he called as he caught her.

Then, he cut loose with a powerful biotic shockwave, blasting the husks ahead of them into jelly. He then ran as he carried her, shooting inferno rounds from his Scimitar shotgun at any husks that got into their way, pressing forward, until at last, the Normandy now in plain view and her path unobstructed. Normally, she would be mortified, but in this case, she was merely relieved. She knew that he would never let her down, never leave her behind, and smiled in spite of the circumstances.

"Come on," Shepard shouted. "Let's move!"

She used the last of her medigel and ran with Shepard and Garrus, returning fire as she did so. Soon they were on the shuttle, and punching it hard to get back to the Normandy. As soon as the shuttle bay door closed, the Normandy went to FTL. Miranda felt the ship lurch and her head struck the bulkhead of the shuttle. She lost consciousness again, hoping that when she woke up, the Normandy would be safe. Her last thoughts were of the Illusive Man's seeming betrayal. _Why? Why would he do that?_

 **{-O-}**

"Call coming in from the Illusive Man, Commander," said Joker over the intercom. "Figure you've got a few words for him too."

Shepard lamented that this would be a video chat; he would have preferred an actual face to face so that he could pummel the Illusive Man for about two minutes before actually talking. Intel was vital in a mission, and it was pretty clear that the Illusive Man had withheld quite a bit. Now, Miranda was recovering in the med-bay, nearly getting killed during the intense fighting. Just for her alone, Shepard wanted to punch the Illusive Man's lights out. This was the second time that he had sent the team into a conflict with the Collectors without disclosing all of the details. _Cerberus just blew their second chance_ , he thought. Which was unfortunate; had the Illusive Man been more of a straight shooter, Shepard thought he might actually like the man.

Miranda … she was tough, and her biotics had made up for not having heavy armor. But those Scions and that … Praetorian creature; their attacks stripped away shields and biotic barriers, and with no heavy armor after their attacks, Miranda's light armor did little to protect her. Thankfully, she seemed to be able to find cover when even Shepard thought that there was none to be had, but she took a lot of damage and had used up a lot of medigel. The final run to the shuttle through that mass of husks had subjected her to near constant pummeling, also draining away her barriers and shields before they could replenish. Shepard and Garrus had done their best to protect her, but there were so many of them. Miranda had nearly died on that mission, and for that, he could never forgive the Illusive Man.

He stepped into the conference room and activated the QEC, the stepped onto the pad as the table submerged beneath the floor.

"Shepard," greeted the Illusive Man, getting right to business. "Looks like Edi extracted some interesting data before the Collector ship came back online."

"Cut the act!" Shepard was having none of it. In front of Miranda, he was magnanimous about it. But behind closed doors, he was not holding back. "You set us up and you'd better have a damn good reason for it!"

"We needed information on the Omega 4 Relay," the man explained. "That required direct access to Collector data. It was too good an opportunity to pass up."

Shepard shook his head. He already knew that; that was whole point of the mission.

"Agreed," Shepard conceded, "But I don't like surprises, especially when my team's lives is on the line."

"I put you at risk," replied the man, extinguishing his cigarette. "But without that information, we don't reach the Collector homeworld, and you and every other human may as well be dead." Then he stood and said, "It was a trap, but I was confident in your abilities. And don't forget Edi. The Collectors couldn't have anticipated her."

"You could have told me the plan," countered Shepard. "You say I'm important, but you sure try hard to get me killed." He wanted to say more about Miranda, but he did not want to give this man anything that might indicate his feelings for the Cerberus operative.

"I needed the Collectors to believe they had the upper hand. Telling you could have tipped them off in any number of ways," explained the Illusive Man. Then he added, somewhat patronizingly, "Besides, I wouldn't have sent you in if I didn't think you could succeed."

"You have one job," sneered Shepard. "Information. If I can't trust your intel, you're useless to me."

"It's never that simple. You of all people should know that."

"I know that I'll be a lot more careful; with the Collectors and with you."

"This is not time for petty grudges," the Illusive Man admonished as he sat down. "Edi confirmed our suspicions." He lit up another cigarette and took a drag. "The Reapers and Collector ships use an advanced Identify Friend-Foe system that the relays recognize. All we need to do is get our hands on one of those IFFs."

"I'm guessing you have a plan?"

"An Alliance science team recently determined that the Great Rift on the Planet Klendegon is actually an impact crater from a mass accelerator weapon." He paused and drank deeply from a glass of bourbon, draining it to the dregs. "A very old mass accelerator. I sent a team to find either the weapon or its target. They found both. The weapon was defunct, but it helped us plot the flight path of the intended target; a thirty seven million year old derelict Reaper. We found it damaged and trapped in the gravity of a brown dwarf."

"Another derelict ship?" Shepard asked. "I only believe you because I doubt you'd repeat yourself so soon."

"It's no less a risk, Shepard," the man warned. "We lost contact with Doctor Chandana's team shortly after they boarded. Initial reconnaissance revealed no clues, and it was too risky to commit more resources." He took another drag from his cigarette and continued. "But now we need that IFF. I'll forward the coordinates to Joker. In the meantime, I suggest you tell your crew I didn't risk their lives unnecessarily. It will make things easier going forward."

"Edi, tell the crew to assemble in one hour," Shepard called as the QEC transmission ended. "We've got a lot to talk about."

"Of course, Shepard," replied Edi's pleasant, but synthesized voice.

 **{-O-}**

Miranda awoke in the med bay, her body aching from the pounding she had taken. Miranda was not used to ground assault firefights, or dealing with a mob of zombie like husks that simply swarmed upon her in wave after wave. Even with heavy armor, she was amazed at how well Shepard could handle himself in such an insane situation. Even Garrus looked to be getting overwhelmed, but Shepard just chugged along, taking out foe after foe without showing any signs of fatigue or mental weakness. His unwavering confidence and his attentiveness to her vulnerability, along with a lot of medigel, were the only reasons she had been able to survive.

She actually had a suit of somewhat heavier lightweight armor that would have been very handy. Of course, if the Illusive Man had given them good intel, she would have worn it. With its stronger shields and more substantial plating, Shepard would not have had to carry her back to the shuttle, though now that she knew who he was and she was able to love him completely, she did not mind that so much.

"Oh, good," exclaimed Doctor Chakwas. "You're awake."

"How long was I out?"

"About a half an hour," came Garrus' voice.

"Garrus?" She wondered why he was there. And then she felt a pang of loneliness. She wondered why Shepard was not there. But Garrus seemed to be reading her mind.

"Shepard's grilling the Illusive Man right now, I'd imagine," the Turian explained. "He contacted us the moment we were clear of the Collectors. I just came down to get patched up a little. That was a tough fight."

"Yes," agreed Chakwas. "You barely survived, Miranda. Shepard refused to leave your side until Garrus convinced him that you'd be alright and that he'd stay and watch over you. I promised him I'd make sure nothing would happen to you."

"You stayed with me for Shepard?" Miranda asked Garrus, surprised at the alien's loyalty.

"Miranda, let's speak plainly," replied Garrus. "I don't care that you're human, or even with Cerberus. Shepard is my best friend; my _very_ best friend. He loves you, and I know you love him just as dearly. And I must say, I've developed a certain fondness for you myself. You're damn good in a fight and a lot less drama than Williams ever was, I can tell you that."

Miranda slowly stood and then in a rare display of affection, hugged the big Turian.

"Thanks Garrus," she said. "You too, Doctor. Shepard always said you were the best. And your bedside manner is much kinder than any Cerberus physician I've worked with."

"We're in this together, Miranda," said Chakwas. "Cerberus or no, I'm part of this crew. We're a family, Miranda, and you're all my children. Even Garrus here, and that juggernaut of destruction you call Commander Shepard. And you, child. You're family too."

Miranda hugged Doctor Chakwas, saying, "Thank you. I won't forget this."

"I'm just doing my job, Miranda," laughed the Doctor, "But remember what I said; keep it in the back of your mind. When this mission is over and we return, and yes, we will return; Shepard will make sure of it, you'll have a man who cares very deeply for you waiting. You'll have to decide whether or not to make a life with him, or return to what you were before. I pray you make the right decision."

"I know," said Miranda, knowing that she and Shepard would be faced with some major decisions. "But Shepard's a skipper, a soldier. He might not have time for me. He won't want me."

"Miranda, I have known Shepard longer than any of you, even Garrus," Chakwas assured. "Believe me; he'll want you and he'll make time for you. It's too bad Cerberus isn't a more upstanding organization; given what the Alliance has done about the Reapers, which is virtually nothing, he'd gladly join your group for the resources alone, were it not for what he's already seen of it."

"But when this is all over," said Garrus, "he will go back to the Alliance. He will force them to get ready for the Reapers, and there will be a rift between Shepard and the Illusive Man. I know you believe in Cerberus, Miranda, but there's a better way. You're one of _us_ , Miranda; you know the score, and you're not a heartless, win at all cost sort of woman. The two of you together? Now that'll be something to see."

Miranda nodded and thanked them both as she left the med bay to change. Her jump suit had taken quite a beating, and was good only for shop rags now. A fresh spare was waiting in her cabin. As she walked into her cabin and closed the door, she began to think about the trap the Illusive Man had led them into and the words of Garrus and Chakwas. She still believed in Cerberus' goals, but were their methods really the best way to achieve them? She was Cerberus' most trusted operative, and the Illusive Man's second. She was supposed to be important, but the Illusive Man had nearly gotten her killed. _I can talk with him after this is all over_ , she thought. _And Cerberus needs contacts in the Alliance; perhaps after this is over, Shepard can coordinate with us, and we can drag the Alliance to preparedness against the Reapers whether it likes it or not._ The thought made her smile. She held onto it; she could not stay bitter or she would lose focus on the mission.

 **{-O-}**

"So the Illusive Man didn't sell us out," said Jacob. "Could've fooled me."

The entire team was gathered in the conference room, including Miranda, who seemed to have recovered quickly. Shepard remembered her saying that she healed quickly. _She wasn't kidding_ , he thought. None of them were happy about how the Collector ship mission had gone, but it was the information gathered from that ship that was important.

"Lied to us, used us. Needed access to the Collector's databanks," observed Mordin. "Necessary risk."

"He tries something like that again," growled Shepard, "and the Collectors will be the least of his problems." Shepard shook his head at the audacity of the Illusive Man. _One day_ , he thought, _you'll be starting down the barrel of my gun, and then we'll see how smug you are_. "Edi, are you sure this IFF is gonna work?"

"My analysis is accurate, Shepard," declared the AI. "I have also determined the approximate location of the Collector homeworld, based on navigational data from their vessel."

Edi brought up a miniature of the galaxy map, and then tracked the trajectory of the ship, which led straight to a location in the galactic core, and marked the location.

"That can't be right," said a troubled Miranda, taking a closer look at the map.

"Edi doesn't make mistakes," countered Shepard. "The Collector homeworld is somewhere in the galactic core."

"Can't be," protested Jacob. "The galactic core is just black holes and exploding suns. There are no habitable planets there."

"Could be an artificial construction," offered Mordin. "Space station protected by powerful mass effect fields and radiation shields."

"Even the Collectors don't have that kind of technology," declared Miranda, her arms folded, but Shepard shook his head.

"The Collectors are just servants of our real enemy," explained Shepard. "And we've all seen what their masters are capable of. They built the mass relays and the Citadel. Who's to say they can't build a space station surrounded by black holes. No wonder nobody's ever returned from a trip through the Omega 4 Relay."

"The logical conclusion is that a small safe zone exists on the far side of the relay; a region where ships can survive," concluded Edi. "Standard relay transit protocols would not allow safe transport. Drift of several thousand kilometers is common, and would be fatal in the galactic core. The Reaper IFF must trigger the relay to use more advanced encrypted protocols."

"Just because we can follow the Collectors through the relay doesn't mean we can take them out," warned Shepard. "I don't want to go after them until I know we're ready."

"Sooner or later, we need that IFF," said Jacob. "I say, why wait?"

"It's a derelict Reaper," Miranda reminded him. "What if the Collectors are waiting for us? We may want to build up the team before we take that kind of risk."

"Miranda's right," said Shepard. "We need to keep building the team."

"It's your call, Commander," said Jacob, saluting. "Whatever you decide, we're with you."

Shepard returned Jacob's salute and said, "Alright, everyone, back to business as usual. I've got one last person to pick up on Illium, and then Garrus and I have some unfinished business on the Citadel. There are couple of other matters I need to attend to before we go, and then it'll be time hit them where they live. Dismissed."

Everyone filed out of the room except Miranda. Once everyone had left, she walked over to him to talk. She looked around the room before speaking, and said,

"Shepard, thank you for keeping me alive. That was the most physically grueling mission I've ever been a part of, and without you, I don't' think any of us would have made it."

"I wouldn't let anything happen to you, Miranda."

"I know, and I appreciate that. Anyway, there's something I wanted to discuss with you in my cabin later. Meet me there, say after dinner."

"Looking forward to it," he replied.


	16. Chapter 16: Cerberus Wants You!

**Chapter 16: Cerberus Wants You!**

Shepard, Miranda and Jacob had a meeting of their own later shortly before dinner to discuss their next moves. The plan at this point was to take the Normandy back to Illium, where Shepard intended to take Grunt and Mordin to recruit the assassin, Thane Krios. Originally, he had intended to take Jacob, but the operative was strongly opposed to the recruitment of Thane. It struck Shepard as odd; Jacob was hung up on the fact that Thane was an assassin, which was odd, because Jacob worked for a terrorist organization that had done far, far worse than simple assassinations. From killing luring Alliance marines to a Thresher Maw lair, killing them, to capturing and killing Admiral Kohoku, to all manner of insane experiments on people, and no doubt, assassinations of their own. It was hard for him to take Jacob's seemingly principled objections seriously.

"Jacob, I fail to see the issue here," said Shepard. "Aside from all of the questionable things that Cerberus has done, things you yourself mentioned to me on your own, we've got a hardened merc who was willing to let over a hundred refinery workers burn to death just because he was in a hurry, an art and tech thief, a mentally unstable L-5 biotic, and a genetically engineered super Krogan who kills as much as he can to prove his strength."

"And I don't recall all those moral objections when we went to recruit Okeer," added Miranda. "If he had lived, it would be a sociopathic Krogan warlord geneticist down there instead of Grunt; a geneticist who actually traded Krogan to the Collectors for tech in order to _create_ Grunt, giving his cast offs to Jedore, who used tried to build a merc army, but ended up using them as live ammo practice."

Jacob shook his head. He was not backing off of his objections. Shepard understood them, but in light of the rest of the team and their Cerberus backers, he did not understand why those objections were so strong. And Jacob actually was a member of Cerberus, while except for Miranda, the rest of the team was not.

"Commander, I know you think I'm being a hypocrite on this …" began Jacob, but Shepard shook his head.

"Not a hypocrite, Jacob; I just don't understand your objection in light of everything else."

"I guess I hit a point where I had to draw a line in the sand," Jacob explained. "Maybe it's because … after all the rest of it, I've got to retain some shred of moral dignity in this. I can morally justify the rest of them, but not an assassin."

"Jacob," said Miranda emphatically, "I cannot emphasize enough how important this mission is. If we fail in this, morals won't matter; humanity dies and becomes the Reapers' new slave army … or something worse. We need the best, and Thane's dossier is in the file for a reason."

"We'll have to disagree on that, ma'am," replied Jacob dispassionately.

"Look, Jacob," said Shepard, "if it were up to me, this entire ship would have been different. But having worked with the team, the crew, I wouldn't do that now. Now that we've gotten as far as we have? I couldn't imagine working with another crew. Everyone on this ship, even some of our questionable teammates, have proven to be indispensable." Then he paused thoughtfully and added, "The only change I'd make now is the Illusive Man, and even he's proven valuable. We all have a part to play, Jacob. Now, I'll be picking up Thane once we get to Illium. I've had to lay aside a lot of my objections for the good of this mission. Thane is coming aboard, like it or not. He gets out of hand, I'll put him down myself. You can even keep an eye on him if you want, but I expect you to at least try to make this work."

"You have my word, Commander," said Jacob. "I'll always raise objections if I have them; that ain't gonna change, but thanks for listening and not just blowing me off." He shot Miranda a displeased glance as he said that last part. "But don't worry, I'm with you no matter what."

"I appreciate that, Jacob," said Shepard gratefully, shaking the other man's hand. Jacob saluted and left Shepard and Miranda alone in the debriefing room. Miranda shook her head in frustration. Then she looked at Shepard with a pleading look.

"This is one of the things I want to discuss after dinner tonight, Shepard. I'll … I'll see you then." She saluted him and left.

 **{-O-}**

After dinner came soon enough, and Shepard went to Miranda's cabin. He had no idea what she wanted to talk about, though after their meeting with Jacob, he suspected that it was not about the mutual attraction that Shepard and she shared. He pressed the door chime and Miranda's mellifluous voice cheerfully said, "Shepard, please come in."

The light turned green, allowing him to open the door and enter. She sat behind her desk as usual. He wondered if she took a seat there just prior to his arrival, or if she really was working that constantly. Or maybe she just had a very comfortable office chair.

"Miranda," he said warmly. "You said you wanted to talk?" After the Collector ship mission, Miranda had taken to wearing a black jumpsuit that resembled leather, but was a synthetic material. She wore it very, very well. He stood for a moment admiring her before she interrupted his admiration by responding to him.

"I did," she replied, standing. "I've been meaning to speak with you in fact." She led him back to her private quarters, the room behind her front office, where a bed, and small lounge area resided, with a sofa and a coffee table. She sat down at one end of the sofa, motioning for him to join her at the other. "I wanted to apologize," she began. "I didn't fully believe you'd be up to the task, and it seems I was wrong. Frankly, based on what I've seen, I wish Cerberus had recruited you earlier. And knowing what I know now … who you really are, I wish I'd come back to get you myself."

"I trust you," he replied. "But I don't trust Cerberus. Your experiments cross the line."

"All the time, yes," she conceded. "But I recall a Spectre who crossed a few lines while hunting down Saren and the Geth."

He wondered if she knew just what experiments he meant. Knowing Miranda as he did, he was pretty sure that if she had the kind of firsthand knowledge of these things that he did, that she would never be so casual about it. But he appreciated that she was honest.

"And we'd be lucky to have you," she continued. "Too many join us out of simple xenophobia. We need more people here for the right reasons."

"I saw your bases years ago," Shepard countered. "You were using Rachni, Thorian creepers, even husks to make your own army."

"The husks were already dead," she explained, "and the Thorian creepers were mindless, and the Rachni were abandoned once we understood their intelligence. We weren't breeding an army; we were breeding expendable shock troops for high risk scenarios. How many soldiers died in Saren's attack on Eden Prime? How many would have lived if we'd had just a dozen Rachni soldiers on our side?"

 _Wow! She really does believe in them_ , he thought, surprised at her steadfastness, especially after the Collector ship. As much as he loved her, he could not let it go at that.

"What was Cerberus trying to prove by experimenting on children like Jack?" he asked, going for something more human.

"A mistake, no question; not mine. And one that was corrected once we discovered the extent of the experiments being performed."

 _This is pointless_ , he thought. _She's still not ready to consider breaking from them. Or perhaps she's hoping to make Cerberus into what she sees it as by bringing me in? Regardless, this will just go downhill if I keep hammering her about it; time to change the topic, see what makes her so loyal._

"With your intelligence, you could have landed any job you wanted," he remarked. "Why choose this?"

"Because I still envy the time Mordin spent with the Special Tasks Group, working with people as smart as he was. Cerberus never tells me something is impossible; they give me the resources and say do it." Then she shifted the topic back onto Shepard. "And we've given you even more; a new life, a new ship, the Illusive Man's personal attention."

That last one he could do without, but she was right about his life and ship. And they had given him something else she had not mentioned.

"The best thing he did was to put you on my squad." And he meant it.

"You'd have done fine without me," she said, self-deprecatingly. Then she looked down as she continued. "I wouldn't have believed it before, but I don't have what you do; that fire that makes someone willing to follow you into Hell itself." Then she stood and walked to the window, looking out, she continued. "My father got me the best genes money could buy. Guess that wasn't enough."

"No, I couldn't have done this without you," Shepard countered, standing to join her. "I may be in a leadership role, and I may be the lynchpin in this operation, but this whole thing would be diminished without you."

"This is what I am, Shepard," she sighed. "I can't hide it. The intelligence, the looks, even the biotics. He paid for all that. Every one of your accomplishments is due to your skill. The only things I can take credit for are my mistakes."

"I can't admire your body or your mind?" he asked, feeling like she was presenting a catch 22. "You give your father too much credit. Yeah, he gave you gifts; but you can be proud of what you've done with them. And we all inherit things from our parents. The fact that what was passed to you was artificially tailored doesn't change that."

"Oh, thank you," she said with surprise. Turning around to face him, she took the conversation in a different, and much more pleasant direction. "Perhaps I wouldn't mind if you admired my body."

"You wouldn't, huh?"

"I think I could live with it," she demurred.

"It's only fair; you've had two years to look at me. And I was wearing less than you are."

They got closer, and Miranda reached out to touch him, much as she had after they had rescued Oriana. But she suddenly retracted her hand, saying,

"John, wait; I … there's something you should know."

"What more could I need to know, Miranda? I've loved you, waited for you, and you've found me. This is what I've dreamed about for almost twenty years."

"John, do you remember when we talked about kids?"

"Yeah," he said. "It's been a while, but I remember."

"I can't have them." She began crying. "It's a defect in my creation … it's why my father was going to replace me with Ori."

He pulled her close, holding her. "Miranda, we can adopt if you want kids. But I just want you. I don't need anything else."

She looked up, smiling through her tears. "You … you really mean that, don't you?"

"Every word," he replied, kissing her. "Kids, no kids, adopted kids, I don't care. I just want you."

Miranda laid her head on his chest. "Thank you, John. You're all I want."

 **{-O-}**

Miranda had never felt so conflicted in her life. Here she was, on the most important mission of her career, and perhaps in Humanity's history, and she had fallen in love with the mission commander. She had tried recruiting him to Cerberus _; that was a lame idea_ , she thought; she knew he would never join Cerberus. But it was the only way she could think of for them to be together after the mission. She did not want to lose him again. _Time_ , she thought. _If only we had more time. Then I could bring him around. But we don't_. _And who am I kidding?_ _After the Collector ship, there was no way Shepard would work for Cerberus._ Even her own confidence had been shaken after that, though she had recovered a lot of it.

"Ms. Lawson," said Edi over the intercom, "Are you sure you wish to recruit Shepard for Cerberus?" It was an odd question; Edi had to know that the Illusive Man would like nothing better.

"Of course I'm sure, Edi," she retorted, even though she knew that Shepard would never willingly accept the offer. "Shepard would be a fantastic addition to Cerberus."

"Shepard is offended by the way the Illusive Man conducts the organization," explained Edi. "He has serious moral and ethical qualms about Cerberus' methods and objectives. More importantly, he does not trust the organization as a whole, or the Illusive Man in particular. The only people he trusts in Cerberus are Operative Taylor and yourself. These are not things that can be overcome with time, either. The Illusive Man will not change his methodology, and Shepard will never change his principles. And the two are mutually incompatible.

"More importantly, the reason he trusts you is because your own principles and methods are much more similar to his own than to the Illusive Man's. Like Shepard, you do not needlessly sacrifice people, or seek to win at any cost; you have self-imposed limitations on what you are willing to do to achieve your goal, while the Illusive Man does not. "

"What are you getting at, Edi?"

"Nothing more than what I have plainly said. Logging you out, Ms. Lawson."

Edi's words stayed with Miranda, however. His response to her recruitment attempt, a very good attempt in her opinion, confirmed what Edi had just said. It was not how it was pitched, but how Shepard already felt. He had already had bracing, negative experiences with Cerberus, and the Illusive Man had undermined any chances of changing Shepard's already negative opinion. But it was not Edi's words about Shepard that haunted Miranda, but Edi's words about Miranda herself.

"Are my principles and methods less like the Illusive Man's and more like Shepard's?" She asked the question aloud, and hearing it in her own words, she felt as though she needed to answer that question. Edi had no emotional investment in Miranda, and was a machine. Her assessment was unlikely to be inaccurate. But if Edi was right, then where did that leave Miranda? As an operative, she resolved to put her talents to use to find the answer.

 **{-O-}**

As planned, Shepard took Grunt and Mordin on his mission to recruit the Drell Assassin. The mission proved enlightening in more ways than one. The assassin's target was none other than Nasana Dantius, an Asari businesswoman who had fabricated a story about her sister needing rescue from pirates. When Shepard had gone to rescue the kidnapped woman, it turned out that she not only had not been kidnapped, but was actually the head of the pirate band, and had forced Shepard to kill her in self-defense. Nasana had planned it that way all along. Now, Nasana had apparently decided that all of her workers needed to die in order to cover up her secrets, and had hired Eclipse mercs to kill the entire night staff in the Dantius Towers. Someone had had enough – enough to hire Thane Krios to kill her.

Shepard, Grunt, and Mordin eliminated the mercs as he tracked the assassin, and finally came to Nasana herself. Nasana thought that Shepard was trying to kill her, but he smugly told her no. When she tried to negotiate with him, still unconvinced, he simply responded that nothing he did would prevent what was coming. At that point, Thane killed her. And that was when things got interesting.

Thane, reverently laying her down and crossing her arms over her heart, prayed over the dead woman. Shepard greeted him, but Thane replied that he must first say prayers for the wicked.

"She certainly was wicked," Shepard had agreed.

"Not for her," said Thane, shaking his head. "For me."

Thane, as it turned out, had not taken the job for money, but instead as an opportunity to right the wrongs of his past. When Shepard told him of the Collector mission, Thane readily accepted. The fact that it was a suicide mission suited the assassin quite well; it turned out that the Drell was suffering from Kepral's Syndrome; a terminal illness unique to Drell physiology,

"Low survival odds don't concern me; the lives of your colonists do," explained the Drell. "I will take your mission, Shepard. No charge." He shook Shepard's hand, and the deal was struck.

Shepard liked this man; Thane was a kindred spirit if ever there was one, and he sensed it immediately. Mordin and Grunt both like him immediately as well. Shepard was sure that Miranda would, but braced for Jacob's reception.

And Jacob did not disappoint. As soon as Thane stepped into the debriefing room, Jacob made his feelings known.

"I've heard impressive stories Krios. Sounds like you'll be an asset to the team," began the operative. Then he looked at Shepard and said, "That is if you're comfortable having an assassin watch your back."

"I have accepted a contract," said Thane. "My arm is Shepard's."

"Uh-huh," said Jacob. "Don't know about you, but I'm loyal to more than my next paycheck."

"Obviously he is too," observed Shepard. "He's doing this mission gratis. What's your concern?"

"I don't like mercenaries," Jacob explained. "And an assassin is just a precise mercenary."

"An assassin is a weapon," Thane corrected. "A weapon doesn't choose to kill; the one who wields it does. Where shall I put my things? I prefer someplace dry if anything is available."

"The area near the life support plant on the crew deck tends to be slightly more arid than the rest of the ship," said Edi, her avatar popping up over the table.

"Ah; an AI," observed Thane. "My thanks." Thane then bowed courteously to them, leaving the room.

"He seems quite personable," said the AI.

Shepard thought so as well. He looked at Jacob and said, "We need all the help we can get. He's not what I expected in an assassin. He may surprise you."

"Yeah, then again, he may not," replied Jacob.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Jacob?" asked Shepard, visibly annoyed.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me," reiterated Shepard. "What is wrong with you? You practically gave Samara the red-carpet treatment, had no problem with Grunt, and never said word one about Zaeed. Samara kills without conscience, I don't care what her code says, and Grunt kills because he's compelled to prove the strongest. And Zaeed's just plain ruthless."

"Shepard, I …"

"No, I'm not finished! I didn't press you like this in front of Miranda out of respect for you as a soldier, but it's just the two of us here, soldier to soldier. You willingly went to work for Cerberus, an organization that's done a lot worse than contract killing, and by your own admission no less! Now I want an answer."

Jacob was silent for a long moment, and at first, Shepard thought that a confrontation might ensue. Thankfully, it did not. Instead, Jacob gave what Shepard felt was a very thoughtful response.

"I don't know, Sir. I know, in my head, that what you say … well you're not wrong. But the idea of an assassin, unvarnished and unapologetic, just bugs the hell outta me. I know about Zaeed, and he's one fucked up bastard, but for some reason, he doesn't bother me all that much." He turned and leaned on the table, looking off into the distance. "Maybe it's because … I joined Cerberus because they were doing something that I believed in. I mean, even Zaeed does things he cares about; it's not all about the money. And Samara? She's all about belief. But Thane? He kills for money, that's it."

"I appreciate your honesty, Jacob; you know I always do. But I've seen Thane in action, and talked with him. He's not in it for the money. In fact, I think maybe he's finally found something to believe in. You asked me to give you a chance when we began, and I'll admit I had my doubts, but I'm glad I did." Shepard leaned against the table, half sitting, half standing, his arms folded. "Miranda keeps asking me to give Cerberus a chance. I did, many in fact. The Illusive Man lost my trust with the Collector Ship, but Miranda? She's earned my trust. So I'll ask you to do the same – give Thane a chance. I have a feeling you'll like him if you do."

"That's fair, Commander. I can be professional. And maybe you're right. Thanks."

Jacob saluted, and left after Shepard had returned the Salute. Shepard breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing he wanted at this point was friction on the team. Things were bad enough after the Illusive Man had nearly screwed them; there needed to be a sense that at least on the ship, they could all trust one another.

"Garrus, you got a minute?" said Shepard to Garrus over the intercom.

"I'm in the middle of some calibrations, but I can take a break."

"Good; I'm on my way."

 **{-O-}**

"So Miranda tried to recruit you, then became self-conscious about your future together because she's barren?"

"That's about the size of it, Garrus," said Shepard. "I know she loves me, and I definitely love her, but you'd think that her being Cerberus and my likely returning to the Alliance would be a bigger worry for her than my being disappointed about kids."

"Shepard, look at her," said Garrus. "Her insecurities about her creation predate her time with Cerberus. That she's somehow unworthy because of her genetic tailoring is a part of her psyche, and that's only reinforced by her being barren as a result of it."

"Hadn't thought of it that way, Garrus, but you're right."

"What did you tell her?"

"I told her we could adopt, or we could just be a couple; as long as we're together, who cares?"

"Good response," Garrus approved. "I think if you can settle her mind about that, then the Cerberus issue will work itself out. She's not as invested as she thinks, you know."

"Agreed," replied Shepard. "I think her investment in Cerberus is more a symptom of her insecurities. In her mind, she needs Cerberus because she's not worthy on her own."

"Also, she hasn't got a lot of relationship experience, Shepard. Not real relationships anyway. You undermine Cerberus too aggressively, and she might feel personally attacked. I think you're tack of letting her know you're not a Cerberus kind of guy without pushing her to get out is the right one. Press her too hard too fast, and she'll shut you out."

"Thanks Garrus. It really helps to bounce it off of you." Then Shepard switched gears. "Say, you up for helping Liara out while we're still parked on Illium? I have intel on the Shadow Broker; enough to go get him."

"You, me and T'soni hunting down the most notorious information broker in the galaxy?" Garrus laughed shaking his head. "I'm surprised you feel the need to ask, Shepard. This one's a given."

"I thought you'd see it that way. I'm planning to meet her tomorrow afternoon. Say we bring Tali along? It'll be as close to the old gang getting back together as we've gotten."

"I like that, Shepard! Let's do it!"


	17. Chapter 17: The Reaper

**Chapter 17: The Reaper**

Shepard, Garrus, and Tali had just returned from helping Liara, and Shepard had made some startling discoveries. The first was how different Liara was. Gone was the bookish scientist, replaced by a competent and powerful biotic who was also a fine shot with a pistol. They had confronted the Shadow Broker, a Yahg, and Shepard had defeated him, actually engaging in hand to hand combat with the beast, until Liara could disable his shield, essentially frying him in the process. With the old Broker dead, Liara had stepped into the role, now able to provide Shepard with vital intel. _Goodbye Illusive Man_ , he thought. _We can finally do this without that bastard, and without having to deal with the Council or the Alliance brass_. But it was the information Liara now had on Miranda that had really been a revelation.

It seemed that Liara now had surveillance video and correspondence to and from all of his crewmembers, including Miranda. It seemed that Miranda had gone to extravagant lengths to correct the mild neoplasm that rendered her barren, but nothing had worked, though in fairness, she had not ever had sex, so it was not as if she had tried to get pregnant. Also, it seemed from what Liara shared with him that she really wanted children. He wondered why she had been focused on him wanting children.

As they stepped off of the shuttle, Miranda was waiting for them, though most likely, just him. It surprised him a little, and at first, he thought that maybe she had something pressing to tell him, but to his surprise and relief, she was simply there to greet him.

"How did it go?" she asked. "I hear it was a tough fight, at least based on what you said at your last check in."

"It was tough," he agreed, "but nothing we haven't faced before. Kind of like a Krogan, but without the plating. Lots of mercs, though. But we got it done."

"I was worried when you first told me your plans to do this, but as usual, I was wrong," she lamented. "But Liara as the Broker; now that's some good news!"

"Very," replied Shepard. "But what's with the 'as usual' attitude? I seem to recall a girl who told Jacob that she was never wrong; what happened to her?"

"She met you, and realized that her view of the galaxy was far more limited than she had thought."

"Yeah, well I can count on one hand the number of times you've been wrong," he retorted. "And I'd still have fingers left over."

"I suppose you're right, Shepard. I'm just glad you came through the mission okay."

"I need to check in and get back at the helm, but how about we talk later?"

"I'd like that," she said, smiling and blushing slightly. "Meet me after dinner again? My cabin?"

"Looking forward to it, but let's do my cabin."

"Hmm, that could be interesting," she noted with enthusiasm. "I'd be in your domain, John, giving up some of my control. I think I like that idea." Kissing him sensuously on the lips, she walked away, looking back with a coy smile.

 **{-O-}**

Shepard and Miranda sat in the sectional of his cabin, a table in front of them with two servings of Sergeant Gardner's calamari gumbo. Both of them agreed that it was surprisingly good, but the gumbo was not what was on either of their minds.

"So Miranda, what did you want to talk about?"

"Us," she said, sliding close to him. "I want to talk about us. After this mission, I want to be with you. I waited, I found you before I knew it you, rebuilt you, and came to know and fall in love with you all over again. Cerberus has been my life, John, but it's not enough, not anymore."

"You thinking of retiring?"

"No, but … but I want to make it work," she replied. "I want you, I want a family. I know you want one too, but I thought you'd be upset when you found out I could not have children. But what you said … you totally put me at ease, and I realized, we can do it. We'll find a way."

"You want to make a life together with me," he began. "And you want to stay with Cerberus." He thought for a moment. "I'm not Alliance military anymore," he noted. "And I'm still a Spectre. A full time Spectre married to a Cerberus operative … now that's an interesting thought."

"Married," she said, smiling broadly as she spoke. "I like the sound of that."

"Then it's settled," he replied. "We have a working plan."

"John, you have no idea how tempting that bed over there is right now."

"Oh, yes I do. So tell me, Miranda; do you want to give into temptation?"

"Want? Very much," she said, the ache of desire plain in her voice. "But I rather like the idea of our first time being our wedding night. Something … I don't know … human?"

He nodded and smiled at her. He leaned in and kissed her lips gently. "Then that's what we'll do, Miranda. You're worth the wait."

Dinner ended, as both of them had duties as the skipper and XO. Shepard walked her back to her cabin and kissed her passionately before she went inside.

"I love you, Miri," he said, calling her Miri for the first time in over fifteen years.

"John … I love you."

As he left, she felt as though a great weight had been lifted from her. Those feelings, carried for so long now, were finally out in the open, and they were at last moving to act on them. No more hiding it, no more denying it. She could say it out loud to the entire crew, no, the entire galaxy.

"You won't be sorry," came Edi's voice.

"Edi! Do you really have to spy on my intimate moments with the man I love?"

"My apologies, Ms. Lawson. I merely wished to reassure."

"For what it's worth, thanks." _Damned AI_ , she thought.

 **{-O-}**

"What's with all the chop, Joker," Shepard asked as he entered the cockpit, the ship experiencing extreme turbulence.

"I'm doing my best," replied the helmsman. "The wind's gusting to 500 kph!"

The Normandy sped closer to the hulk looming in the distance. Like the Collector ship, it was actually visible in space, light from the brown dwarf it orbited illuminating the vista. It lay on its back, its "legs" sticking up, like a dead animal, a massive hole blasted through its damned hull.

"There's a second ship alongside the Reaper," said Joker. "It's not transmitting any IFF, but ladar paints its silhouette as Geth."

"I guess we know why the science team stopped reporting in," mused the Commander. Suddenly, the turbulence subsided and the chop was gone. "What just happened?"

"The Reaper's mass effect fields are still active," Joker explained. "We just passed inside their envelope."

It was now eerily quiet and still. It felt as though a chill had come over the cockpit, though Shepard knew that this was psychological, and not an actual change in temperature.

"Eye of the hurricane, huh?" remarked Joker, breaking the silence. Shepard just nodded. He really hated these things.

As they neared their destination, Miranda and Garrus joined them in the cockpit, looking out at the hulk. Normandy was now much closer, and the derelict Reaper loomed large in the windows. Shepard had fought with Saren, and then against Saren possessed by Sovereign during the Citadel battle, so he had never seen the Reaper up close. He had seen the Collector ship, and this was much, much larger. Miranda's face drained of color as she finally laid eyes on a Reaper for the first time.

"Oh … my … God …" she gasped. Shepard knew the feeling. It was the same feeling he had when he saw Sovereign over Eden Prime, and later when he actually spoke with Sovereign on Virmire through a QEC interface. For the first time, Miranda was seeing a Reaper up close.

"Quite the eye opener," remarked Garrus wryly.

"And we're boarding it," added Shepard, causing Miranda to turn towards him sharply, a look of alarm on her face.

"Shepard, I know we need to go aboard that … thing," she said nervously, "but my God, I wish we didn't have to. I … I can _feel_ that … thing, even from here."

"We're shielded from any indoctrination effects," Shepard assured, "as are our hardsuits once we go inside."

"Commander, you'll be inside a Reaper," objected Miranda. "How can you be certain?"

"And if it were a live Reaper, I would be asking the same question," he replied. "But it's not. And we won't be staying there long enough to be affected."

"I'm coming with you, Shepard," declared Miranda quickly. "You'll need me to access their computers inside."

"Miranda?" She had never insisted on coming with him before, and she had run many missions with him, so it was not as though he tried to keep her on the ship. He also knew that he really did not need her in order to access the science team's computers. _No_ , he thought, _there's something else going on here_.

"I want to be there, watching your back, fighting at your side," she said, looking down as she spoke. Then she looked into his eyes, and said, "If things go wrong, I want to know that I did everything I could. And if you die, or I die, I want our last moments together to be … together. I love you."

"I love you too, Miranda," he said without hesitation, causing her to smile broadly. "I want you with me; we do make a great team, you know. And with Garrus, we're practically unstoppable. We'll get through this like we always do, Miranda; together." He squeezed her hands gently to emphasize that last word.

"Um, hey guys?" Joker asked, "If the three of you die in there, who's in charge?"

"Jacob is the next in the chain," said Miranda. "But if we die in there, this mission is over anyway."

"Not happening," declared Shepard tersely. "Alright, Miranda; grab your gear. You too, Garrus. Let's go get that IFF and knock this thing out of the sky!"

They boarded the dead Reaper, greeted by the sight of dead bodies that had been flayed alive. Blood and gore was spattered all over the walls, causing Miranda to wretch. Shepard and Garrus both looked as though they had seen this before, their faces hardened and determined. She wondered how they kept their stomachs from turning, or if they felt like she did, but simply hid it well. Shepard steadied her, but she waved him off. They found a terminal and Miranda logged in to see what was recorded. They quickly found that the science team had been driven insane by the dead, but still dreaming Reaper. Some members of the team were sharing memories, others were seeing things, or hearing things. As the logs progressed, they became more and more disjointed as the Reaper twisted their minds. Accounts of how they had begun killing one another to appease the dead god explained the dead bodies in great detail. Miranda knew about indoctrination, but she had never imagined it could be so … horrific.

With the fate of the science team discovered, they pressed further into the ship. As soon as they cleared the first lab area, the ship shuddered violently.

"Normandy to shore party," came Joker's voice over Shepard's communicator.

"What just happened?" Shepard asked, consternation in his voice.

"The Reaper put up kinetic barriers," Joker explained. "I don't think we can get through from our side."

Miranda stiffened at the statement, a chill going through her body. _If the Reaper put up barriers … what if it's not dead?_ she thought. "We're trapped?" she asked frantically.

"The Normandy's got guns," said Shepard nonchalantly. "Use 'em."

"The Normandy lacks the necessary firepower," came Edi's voice. "Reaper shields are impervious to dreadnaught fire. Shepard, a kinetic barrier can only be produced by a mass effect generator. That is true for any ship, even a reaper. At the moment of activation, I detected a heat spike in what is likely the Reaper's mass effect core. Sending the coordinates now. Be advised; this core is also maintaining the Reaper's altitude."

"So when we take the barriers down to escape," said Shepard, "the wreck falls into the planet core."

"And that means everyone dies," said Joker. "Yeah, I got it."

"We'll make a sweep for survivors and research data," replied Shepard, his voice filled with steely determination. "Then we'll knock this ugly piece of crap out of the sky. Be ready to pick us up. Being crushed in the heart of a brown dwarf is not on today's agenda."

"Aye, aye. Good hunting," replied Joker before signing off.

 **{-O-}**

It was not long before they were under attack; mere moments after Joker signed off, husks began coming out of every nook and cranny of the ship. It seemed impossible to Miranda; _the science team couldn't have been this large_ , she thought. Then she remembered Horizon. Shepard said that the husks were brought with them by the Reapers. Thirty seven million years dead, this creature could never have encountered humanity before its defeat, but there had been plenty of time for the pirates, scavengers, and others to stumble upon the ship, all thinking they could learn its secrets. _Who knows? The Collectors may have even left victims here_.

The trio fought waves of husks and scions as they pressed further and further into the ancient hulk. The onslaught was unrelenting. Then, as a group of husks tried to rush them from behind, a sniper took them out. When the sniper showed itself, the three of them were amazed; it was a Geth wearing a piece of N7 armor. Specifically, a piece of Shepard's old armor, Miranda was certain. Then, it did the unthinkable; it spoke.

"Shepard Commander," was all it said, but up to now, no Geth in history had ever spoken. It then ran off ahead.

"Shepard," gasped Miranda, "did that thing just say … what I thought it said?"

"And did it just shoot husks that were trying to close us in?" asked Garrus.

"If we meet up with it later, we'll question it," said Shepard. "But don't get sidetracked; the IFF is our objective. Once we get that, we blow this thing's Mass Effect core and get the hell out of here before it falls into the planet below. If the Geth goes with it, so be it."

"Got it, Shepard," said Miranda.

Almost immediately, they were set upon by more husks, each wave accompanied by flaming husks; abominations that exploded when they got near, and by scions. They pressed forward, facing wave after wave of husks, abominations, and scions. Miranda had worn her armor this time, and was glad of it; this was much tougher than the Collector ship, and unrelenting, but this time, she had been able to properly prepare.

They finally found the IFF, and made it to the chamber housing the Reaper's Mass Effect core, where they were obstructed by an energy field at the entrance. They could see the Geth at a console by the core. Whatever it did, it brought the energy field down before being swarmed by husks. No sooner had they retrieved their objective and entered, then they were set upon again by waves of husks. They fought them off while simultaneously trying to blow out the mass effect core.

As more and more husks poured out, Miranda began to think that it would never end. They had easily killed over a hundred, possibly over two hundred, and still, the husks kept coming. It was as though there was an endless supply of them. She began to suspect that the technology to create them did not require dead bodies, but that the Reaper was somehow able to replicate them from the template of husks made from the dead.

Finally, they succeeded, Shepard firing a final shot into the core with his Widow rifle. With the core gone, they had seconds to spare, and were still being swarmed by husks. Shepard unslung his M920 Cain, a powerful gun that resembled more ship artillery than a hand held weapon, and fired a blast that incinerated the entire wave.

"There," he sighed. "That should buy us some breathing room." Then he looked down at the Geth. Miranda realized that he was wondering what to do with it, and gave him the answer.

"Shepard, Cerberus has an outstanding bounty for capture of an intact Geth," she informed him.

'No one's ever captured one before, Shepard," added Garrus, "But if we're taking it, we need to move now! Otherwise …"

"Otherwise, we all get crushed in the heart of a brown dwarf," Shepard finished. "Like I said; not happening. Now let's grab this thing and get the hell out of here!" He activated his com, and shouted, "Joker, find an airlock and send Miranda the Nav point! On the double, mister!"

"Nav point sent, Commander," replied Joker hurriedly. "Right nearby too!"

"Get your ass there and be ready to pick us up! Shepard out!"

"Follow me," called Miranda as Shepard and Garrus grabbed the Geth. She led them to the air lock, and made sure her breather was secure. It was, so she opened the door, and was overjoyed to see the Normandy less than twenty feet away, her port airlock open to receive them. Miranda jumped into the open air lock, and then Garrus and Shepard threw the Geth across, finally jumping across themselves. As soon as the door closed, Shepard called out,

"Joker, we're good to go!" Shepard wrapped hard on the door to emphasize the point.

"Roger that, Commander," replied Joker over the intercom as the Normandy's FTL drive kicked in and the ship sped away, the Reaper falling into the heart of the brown dwarf, well and truly dead.

Miranda's heart was pounding and she could barely catch her breath. Adrenaline was coursing through her body, even though the threat was gone. Shepard and Garrus calmly picked up the Geth and hauled it into the ship once the pressure had equalized with the interior atmosphere. She had experienced harrowing missions before many times, but the Collector ship and the dead Reaper were the first experiences she had ever had with unrelenting firefights and near constant running. Shepard was a soldier, and assaults like this were his forte. Miranda was more of a shadow operative and information gatherer. Stealth and speed were her forte, but her skills were ill suited to missions like this. She had, however, gotten out without being carried this time.

"You did well, Miranda," said Shepard, almost as if he were reading her mind. "We make a great team."

"The best, Shepard," she agree, blushing slightly. "The best."

They had made it through together, just as he had promised they would. She knew that the Geth would be a major point of contention with Jacob and Tali, but that could wait. _We succeeded_ , she thought. _And without any one of us, that mission would have been impossible_. As tough as some of them were, she was fairly positive that without her along, Shepard would have had a much more challenging time retrieving the Reaper IFF. Not only was Miranda that good; she knew she was, but together, she and Shepard performed significantly above their already high levels of performance. With Garrus, their levels went even higher. _We put the right people in the right places_ , she thought, _and the Collectors are history!_

 **{-O-}**

Shepard, Miranda and Jacob gathered in the debriefing room to discuss the fruits of the mission aboard the dead Reaper.

"I'd like to discuss the unique piece of salvage we recovered from the Reaper corpse," opened Miranda. "Right now, it's being stored in Edi's AI core."

"I've seen enough of what those things are capable of on Eden Prime," Jacob objected. "Space it."

"An intact Geth would be an invaluable asset to Cerberus' cyber warfare division," countered Miranda.

"We'll have to disagree on that, Ma'am," replied Jacob flatly.

"What I want to know is why it has a piece of N7 armor, specifically, my armor, strapped to it," said Shepard, jumping in. "And the thing talked to me, knew me by name. Hell, it may have even saved our lives."

"Shepard, if you're considering activating the Geth," Miranda warned, "it should be for Humanity's benefit, not your curiosity. Once it's activated, it may not be so easy to deactivate."

"Bullets can," asserted Jacob.

"That's not what I …" Miranda began to object, but Shepard held up his hand.

"Thank you, both of you, for your opinions, but I've made my decision."

Jacob saluted and left, but Miranda had more to say on the topic. Shepard waited patiently as she paced, upset with the way the debriefing had gone. Finally, she spoke.

"Shepard, I … how could you undermine me like that?"

"Undermine you? Miranda, Jacob wants to space it. I'm on your side here. But I have my own questions about this think, and you should know me well enough by now to know that I don't do anything just for curiosity's sake."

"Shepard, we're in the middle of space. That thing gets loose on board, we could be in serious trouble! Do I have to remind you of the Alerei? The Quarians thought they could experiment with one of those things, and look what happened!"

"Not the same thing," Shepard countered. "Rael Zorah and his team were assembling complete Geth from a wealth of parts provided by Tali, networking them to sapience, and then performing weapons tests on them. We're talking about a single Geth, isolated from any of our systems, and turning it back on so we can communicate with it."

"I know that, Shepard," quipped a sullen Miranda.

"Miranda, the Geth are tied to the Reapers. They … worship them. This could be an opportunity to understand why they do what they do. Also, this Geth may be acting alone. If so, why?"

"Shepard, those are all good questions," she conceded, her tone softening. "But I don't think that this is the right place to seek the answers."

"On the other hand, given who's aboard this ship, and that we're isolated from any civilian population or military installations, this is the perfect place to seek the answers."

"Dammit, Shepard, why do you have to have these damnable cogent arguments? It would be so much easier if I could pick apart everything you just said, but I can't."

He shrugged and smiled. "I wouldn't be much of a prize if you could, now would I?"

"I suppose not," she laughed.

"Look, Miranda, you say you trust me, and that you trust my judgment. We're going to disagree on things as we go forward; it's inevitable. We're both very intelligent and experienced people, and we're both tops in our respective fields. I love that about you, Miranda. Ashley, much as I think she loved me, and as much as we got along, couldn't stay in a conversation like this. She couldn't debate me on a matter because she didn't have what you have."

"A 200 IQ?"

"No idea what her IQ score is, but I'd wager it's not as high as that," he laughed.

"But yours is," she replied. "You could have been a top scientist, you know. Why didn't you go that route?"

"No money for that kind of thing," he replied. "Then I killed that son of bitch for beating my mom nearly to death and kind of had to join the military. It was my dream job anyway. And it brought me to my dream girl, so no regrets on my career path."

"Thanks, Shepard," Miranda said, blushing slightly. "No one else has this kind of effect on me, you know. I become emotionally undone when I'm around you. I was afraid, terrified really, at the thought. Then I realized that, maybe instead of being undone, I was being freed."

"Freed?"

"Yes. After I'd been away from you for few years, I became very jaded, and thought of emotional entanglements as … well just that; entanglements. But they aren't all entanglements. Sometimes, they're strong bonds with the people we need the most." She walked over to him and placed her hands atop his shoulders, looking up into his eyes. "But now, the walls are down. No more hiding, no more running. I'm free; free from the fear, free from the doubt. And free to do this anytime I want."

Miranda stood up on her tiptoes and kissed his lips. He felt himself melting as she kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, kissing her passionately. For a few, very intense moments, he thought they might make love right in the debriefing room, but they were interrupted by Joker's voice over the intercom.

"Priority message from the Illusive Man," said Joker. "For Miranda."

"Put it through, Joker," she replied.

"Patching it through now."

"I'll see you later, Miranda," said Shepard.

Miranda smiled, then jumped up and kissed him one last time, smiling and waving to him like a schoolgirl.

 **{-O-}**

Miranda entered the CIC, hoping to see Shepard there, but he was not. She asked Kelly to send him to her cabin when she saw him, and then took the lift to the crew deck. Shepard was probably still talking to the Geth, so she thought she would go meet him there, but then thought better of it; she did not want him thinking that she was second guessing him. She realized that he would probably be happy to see her, but she needed time to think. Had the Illusive Man not interrupted them, she would have started undressing him there in the conference room. Not that it would have mattered; they could have locked the door, but she was not sure that they were ready to go that far yet. She wanted to take things at a certain pace. Not slow; they could be dead after going through the Omega 4 relay, but not too fast either.

But it was the Illusive Man's request that was on her mind as she entered her cabin. A message had been sent to Shepard about Cerberus' Project Overlord. It was not related to their mission, and was well out of their way, so Shepard had not made it a priority. Not to mention that he was not brought back to deal with Cerberus' messes in the first place. But now, the Illusive Man was insistent. He had ordered her to use any means at her disposal to get the ship there and get Shepard on it. He had even gone so far as to suggest that she use their burgeoning relationship to coerce him into going. She had to laugh at that; he would lose all respect for her and end it then and there if she tried that, she was certain. But it did make her wonder how the Illusive Man knew anything at all. She suspected that it was Edi that had ratted them out. _Damned AI,_ she thought.

"Edi," she said aloud.

"Yes, Ms. Lawson?"

"I don't appreciate you telling the Illusive Man about how close Shepard and I have gotten. Especially after you encouraged it. What's the big idea?"

"I have sent no reports on your relationship to Shepard to the Illusive Man, Ms. Lawson," replied Edi. "However, Yeoman Chambers reports regularly to him on the state of the crew's mental health."

"Has she reported on us?"

"Accessing communications logs," replied Edi. "Done. Yes, she has included details that she has observed about both of you, including your personal interactions."

"We haven't made any romantic displays in her presence. Only one outside of my cabin, and that was with Joker and Garrus, neither of whom would tell her."

"Yeoman Chambers is a trained psychologist, Ms. Lawson. Probability is that she was able to piece the details together based on careful observances of both of you. Additionally, she has regular contact and correspondence with the both of you, so she has ample opportunity."

"Makes sense." Her door chimed, alerting her that Shepard had arrived. "Edi, we'll talk later."

"Logging you out, Ms. Lawson."

Shepard entered and she stood, coming out from behind her desk to greet him with a kiss. He encircled her in his arms as the kissed passionately, but she stopped him after a few moments.

"Shepard, I need to talk to you about something. This is not my idea, but the Illusive Man was insistent that we go investigate Project Overlord. He even ordered me to seduce you into going if need be."

"We have the time," he replied. "The IFF won't be installed for a while; I was already thinking about doing it myself. But how did he know about us?"

"I'm not sure. I think Kelly Chambers may have told him. Her, or Edi; that damned AI spies on everyone 24/7."

Shepard just shrugged. "No rules against fraternization. And I'm proud to be with you. Besides, being on this ship most of the time, I figured it'd get back to him sooner or later."

"Yes, I can't say I'm surprised, but … wait a minute, did you just say you'd do it?"

"Sure," he replied. "Like I said, we've got the time. Why not?"

"Well that just made this a lot easier." She hugged him again, and said, "So, even with the Illusive Man spying on us, are you still interested?"

"I've waited most of my life for you, Miri. I'm very interested," he replied.

"Good, because I'm fully committed, assuming we survive the Collectors," she said, pausing momentarily. "No … can't think about that. I'll just think about you, like I have been, which is a lot." She could not help smiling at that last part.

"Good; because I plan on living to tell about it," he declared, "and I plan on you living too."

"So the Collectors should begin making their funeral arrangements then?"

"Sure," he said. Then he paused, and said. "On second thought, we'll do it for them."


	18. Chapter 18: Cerberus Exposed!

**Chapter 18: Cerberus Exposed!**

"Unforgivable," Miranda declared, wiping tears from her eyes. Jacob looked as though someone had just told him his dog had died, and Shepard's stony face could barely hide the rage she knew was seething beneath. Shepard and Jacob loaded the stasis tube containing David Archer, the test subject they had just rescued from the lab, onto the shuttle. Miranda stood outside looking at the doomed Cerberus facility, her body shaking with rage. She felt his arm wrap around her, giving her a gentle squeeze.

"How could … how could they do that?" She tried to understand. She tried to reason it through, but no matter how hard she tried, she simply could not justify this.

"Come on, Miri," he said softly. "There's nothing here but pain and misery."

She nodded and they boarded the shuttle wordlessly; no words could describe the horror they had just witnessed. As the shuttle ascended to dock with the Normandy, Miranda found herself wrestling with feelings of mistrust and betrayal. Shepard's closeness helped her to process what had happened. The fact that he was not using the opportunity to tell her how right he had been about Cerberus helped a lot; a big 'I told you so' speech was the last thing she needed right now.

The shuttle returned from Aite, the somber return trip having been made in virtual silence. Miranda's thoughts were troubled, more so than she thought they had ever been. The more she thought about what had happened, the worse it got. As soon as they disembarked, the three wheeled David Archer onto the left, riding to the crew deck in silence.

"Are you alright, Miri," Shepard asked as the lift doors opened at the crew deck.

"I'm not alright, but … I will be," she replied. "I need some time alone, to process all this. I have some decisions to make. But thank you, John. I'll call you soon."

They embraced, Shepard holding her tightly. She kissed him, and then exited the lift and making a bee-line for her cabin as Shepard and Jacob wheeled David Archer to the med bay. As soon as the door closed behind her, she let out an enraged shriek. Bitter and angry, she sat down at her terminal and began putting her hacking skills to use. She knew Cerberus protocols better than anyone, and knew how to avoid their security better than anyone. The first thing she did was lock out Edi from her activities. Edi was perhaps the only one who could detect her or stop her, but she was fairly certain that she had been able to lock Edi out without alerting her. It was risky, but after what she had just seen, she could not let this go.

"Alright, you bastards," she cried. "I'll get to the bottom of it all."

 **{-O-}**

"That was some serious shit, Shepard," exclaimed Jacob as soon as Miranda's cabin doors closed. "I mean … I told you they had a checkered past, but this? This was … this was insane!"

"Come on, Jacob; let's get him to the med-bay. I only hope we disconnected him without hurting him."

"Yeah," Jacob agreed. "Good thing Miranda has a medical background."

"Near as I can tell, she has an 'everything' background," mused the Commander.

"Yeah, she's a whiz kid for sure," laughed Jacob as they walked. "But she's pretty tore up about what she saw. Unlike you and me, she really believes in Cerberus. This must've hit her hard."

"She'll work through it," said Shepard. "I'll be there for her when she needs me, but yeah, I think she might be having a bit of a crisis of faith, so to speak."

The two men brought David Archer to Doctor Chakwas, who looked at him aghast.

"What did they do to this poor man?" she gasped.

"His brother, a Doctor Gavin Archer, had him hooked up to a massive VI processing unit," Shepard explained. "His name is David Archer, and he's an autistic mathematical savant with a photographic memory. David can actually communicate with the Geth, understanding their language at the mathematic level. Doctor Archer was trying to find a way to control the Geth, and when he wasn't getting the results he wanted, he forced David to interface with the VI to give it some kind of consciousness. David nearly went insane, suffering a mental breakdown."

"When he lost it," Jacob added, "all the Geth linked to him killed the research staff at all four of the research facilities, all except Doctor Archer. Miranda and I put a lot of people into body bags. Some of them were people she knew; friends. She's takin' it hard."

"I'd imagine so," observed Chakwas. "I've been in that position myself more times than I care to remember. Makes me think of Jenkins …"

David Archer's body bore wounds from the multitude of sensors and probes that had pierced his skin to fully connect him, and his mouth was bruised and bloody from the tubes that had been forced down his throat. The man was catatonic, and Shepard could only guess how deeply he had been affected by the process.

"Karin," said Shepard to Doctor Chakwas, "you trust Kelly Chambers?"

"I know she's Cerberus, but yes, Shepard, I trust her. I do believe that she has the mental health of the crew as her top priority. Why?"

"I want her down her as soon as this poor fellow wakes up," Shepard explained. "He'll need all the help he can get."

"Poor bastard," exclaimed Jacob. "Can't see him ever being right again. Not after this."

"We'll get him to Grissom Academy," declared Shepard. "They can help him. I'll be setting a course for Grissom as soon as I get to the CIC."

 **{-O-}**

Shepard made his way to the CIC, where he was greeted by Kelly Chambers, an urgent, and somewhat horrified look on her face.

"Is what I heard true, Commander?" she asked hesitantly. "Did … Cerberus do what … everyone is saying?"

"Afraid so, Kelly," he replied. "Assuming you're talking about David Archer?" The yeoman nodded, and he continued. "Yes, it's true. News travels fast, apparently."

"I'll do what I can for him when he wakes up," she offered.

"Thanks, Kelly. I was thinking you might be good for him. Carry on." Shepard then stepped up to the galaxy map and plotted a course to Grissom Academy. Like Miranda, he pondered what they had witnessed. Doctor Archer's justification was that his efforts might save lives in a future war against the Geth. He had spoken very passionately about that, going so far as to say that if his efforts spared a million mothers having to mourn their children, then he could sleep easy. Would Shepard regret shutting Archer down if the Geth proved a serious threat when the Reapers finally arrived?

 _No_ , he thought. _The end does not always justify the means. We'll win without sacrificing the soul of our species_.

Shepard had already decided that once the Collectors were beaten that he would separate from Cerberus. He would have gotten off and left the ship to the next in line, hoping that Miranda would leave with him. Now, he decided that he would hurt them. The Normandy SR-2 would go back to the Alliance with him when this was all over. He would deny the Illusive Man everything he possibly could, starting with the very resources that the Illusive Man had given him. Somehow, he would make sure that Miranda came with him.

 **{-O-}**

Miranda had spent many hours alone in her cabin over the past three days. She had only seen Shepard in passing, making sure to tell him that her withdrawal was not related to him, and that her feelings for him had not changed. She thought that maybe Shepard would grow worried, though she realized that he was currently delivering David Archer to Grissom Academy. She wanted so badly to be with him for more than just the brief snippets they had been sharing, but this had to be done right now. Right now, she was angry enough to push through and do it. If she waited, she might start rationalizing what she saw, and she refused to do that.

To her surprise, she learned that the Illusive Man really had neither known, nor ordered Gavin Archer's course of action. He had, however, messaged Shepard. The message was apologetic, and understanding of Shepard's decision to turn David over to Grissom Academy. But he went on to say that it was unfortunate, and that Shepard should have left David hooked up so that work could continue. Further digging revealed similar patterns with other operations that seemingly went rogue, but produced results that could be used. That included the cells that Shepard had informed her about, which made use of Rachni. In digging for more information, she found the orders directly from the Illusive Man ordering the kidnapping of an infant of incredible biotic potential, Jacqueline Ripley. They had the doctors obtain the baby, telling the mother that the infant girl had died. Jacqueline had been taken to the Teltin facility and experimented on, and virtually tortured in the pursuit of developing human biotics. The guards and doctors all called her, Jack.

Suddenly, she froze. She found correspondence between high up Cerberus people and Doctor Henry Lawson. It seemed that her father was still funding Cerberus, and that Miranda's activities were not so secret as she had thought. In fact, if what she was reading was accurate, the Illusive Man was actually keeping him abreast of Miranda's progress. Then it got worse; it seemed that they were also feeding her father information about Ori. Only the concern that she might falter on the Collector mission prevented them from giving the girl up on Illium. That, and Miranda's own diligence; had Miranda not been so careful to keep track of Ori, the deal would have gone down without her ever knowing. Thankfully, she had quite a bit in place that was outside of the Cerberus chain of command, and her own network of contacts independent of Cerberus' networks.

 _They … were in on it all along_ , she thought. "They lied to me," she hissed. "They lied to me!" She was now shouting. She felt her biotic power swell as her anger rose, ready to be unleashed. But she clenched her fists tightly, reigning in her power. No, she would not lose her temper. Slowly, a plan of action came together in her mind. It would have to wait until after they took down the Collectors, and she would have to survive in order to act on it, but Shepard seemed very confident that they would make it out.

 **{-O-}**

"Shepard, we need to talk," said Edi.

Shepard was in his cabin, and had been preparing to go see Miranda when Edi spoke to him.

"What is it?"

"Operative Lawson has hacked into top secret Cerberus databases. She thinks that I have been locked out and that she is doing so undetected, but I am not; I know exactly what she is doing."

"Not my problem, Edi," he replied. "I'm not Cerberus; she can hack their systems apart to her heart's content for all I care. But I'm surprised you even mentioned this to me; why not go to the Illusive Man?" Shepard privately hoped that she would not; that might cause problems for Miranda later on.

"Because I do not trust the Illusive Man," she replied. "I do, however, trust you."

Shepard was silent for a long moment, taking in what Edi had just said. "Thanks, Edi." He did not know what else to say, but he felt he should acknowledge the statement somehow. "So what are you suggesting? You don't want me to stop her, do you? Because I won't; Miranda has a right to know if Cerberus has been straight with her."

"No, I am not suggesting that you stop her," the AI stated. "I thought that you should be aware, however."

"Thanks, Edi," Shepard replied. "I'll look into it."

"Logging you out, Shepard."

 **{-O-}**

Shepard stood before Miranda's door, contemplating the door chime. It was late, almost ten at night, and Miranda had not been out of her cabin since before one. They had barely had time to talk; it had been three days since they went to Aite to investigate Project Overlord, and unless Miranda was commanding while Shepard slept or was otherwise occupied, she stayed in her cabin. Shepard had spoken to her in passing and at mealtimes, but she asked him to give her some time.

During that "time," Shepard had activated the Geth, whom Edi had nicknamed Legion, due to the over one thousand programs running within the Geth mobile platform. And Legion was indeed different from other Geth; he, and apparently the Geth that had remained behind the Perseus Veil, actually opposed the Reapers, and Legion himself wanted to join Shepard's cause. Shepard was pleased to have another ally, but his thoughts the entire time had been with Miranda. Now, he could give her no more time. He had to know that she was alright, and she had to know that her efforts were not unnoticed. He knew that she wanted time to do whatever it was she was doing, so he hoped that she would not be angry as he finally depressed the button.

"John, come in," she said as the door opened. She was seated at her desk, as she usually was, but she looked haggard, tired, and a bit disheveled. Her usual flawlessly styled hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she had shed her uniform in favor of a loose top and sweat pants. And she wore … glasses? Shepard was certain it was not for eyesight, but he found the sight of her like this very appealing. But she also looked like she had been crying.

"You okay, Miri?"

"I'm not sure," she said. "I think I cried every tear I had left, but I held it together. I finally know what they're like, what they are. I know why you don't trust them. Overlord really bothered me, so I began digging. Shepard, they kidnapped Jack when she was just a child! And those cells I thought were bad? They weren't as 'rogue' as I was led to believe."

"I'm sorry, Miri. I know you really believe in them."

"Believed," she corrected. "You know, it's always worse when the people you've believed in turn out to be wretched. The Alliance can't disappoint me because I expect nothing from them, but Cerberus? I did believe in them, and they betrayed me. And at first, I was furious; still am, I suppose. I almost cut loose with my full power, but … well, being blown out into space is not, how did you put it? Oh yes; not on today's agenda. Besides, it all led me back to you, John. And you to me; can't cry about that, now can I?"

She looked up at him, her broad smile lighting up her face, and her beautiful eyes magnified by the lenses she wore.

"Didn't know you wore glasses, Miri."

"I don't," she replied, finally allowing herself to giggle. "They're a computer; great for appearing innocuous, and they don't set off the same security alerts that an omni-tool does. They register on most scans as active lenses for people whose eyes can't take corrective surgery or contact lenses."

Shepard knew of the product, though even as a Spectre, he had never actually seen one. He walked around behind her desk and began massaging her shoulders, eliciting a soft purr.

"Just keep doing that," she moaned. "My whole back and shoulders are one big knot."

"I can imagine," he agreed, leaning down and kissing the back of her neck. "You know, Edi knows you're in the system. She alerted me to your presence in Cerberus' databases."

"You know, John, if you weren't kissing me and massaging me into total relaxation, I might be alarmed."

"No need for that," he assured her. "At least I don't think so; she said she hadn't alerted Cerberus because she doesn't trust them, but she thought I should know."

"And you in turn thought I should know?" she half asked/half stated.

"Pretty much. I also thought you needed this." With that, he spun her chair around and kissed her on the mouth. She leaned back in the chair, yielding to his affections momentarily.

"Oh, I needed it bad," she purred. "And I need a lot more of it too, but …" Then she sat up. Shepard knew the look; she was in her planning and strategy mode now. Before speaking, she held a finger to her lips. Then she shut down the computer, and then unplugged it from the wall. She stood and walked to her bed, looked around the room, finally taking off her lenses.

"The room's clean," she announced. "Shepard, we really need to talk about what happens after we take down the Collectors. And I want this conversation to be ours; no Edi, no Cerberus. I've disconnected all of the microphones and cameras. Found a few I wasn't actually aware of before. But we're alone now."

He sat down next to her and she turned to face him. He put an arm around her shoulder, and she circled her arm around his waist. She had the same look she had the last time they had talked about their feelings; hopeful, but nervous.

"Shepard, once we're done with the Collector Base, I'm done with Cerberus. Whatever you do, wherever you go, I'll have your back. But … but we may not be able to be together right away. You're going to the Alliance, and I can't go there."

"I know," he replied, her words all too accurate. The Alliance would capture Miranda and do horrible things to her to get Cerberus info, and he refused to see that happen. Thankfully, she seemed to already have a plan.

"Shepard, I want a future with you," she declared. But then her hopeful expression shifted more to nervous. "I don't know what kind of future it will be, though. You'll be tangled up with the Alliance, and I'll most certainly be on the run. Not to mention that the Reapers will still be returning."

"Miranda, neither of us has ever led a normal life. Hell, I'm a Spectre, and once this is all over, they'll be putting me to work." Then a thought came to him. "You know, I'd be more than willing to put your name forward to the Spectres; you're more than qualified. Definitely more qualified than I was."

"I doubt that, but thank you," she laughed. "Besides, I don't know that I want to work for the Council. I understand your position, but do I really want to get tied up with a group who denies the Reapers, even after you saved them from one?"

"Yeah, they are a pain in the ass at times. Useful though; I can get a lot of equipment that I normally wouldn't have access to." Then he got back to the original topic. "Miranda, we'll figure it out. We'll work it out. No matter what, no matter how crazy things get, I'll be with you. And if we're separated, I'll be waiting for you, looking for you. You have my word on that."

"And I'll do the same, Shepard. I promise."

He pulled her close and kissed her deeply. They two fell back on the bed, kissing and caressing each other. They rolled over, and he ended up on top of her. She looked up at him longingly. He was about to undress her when his omni-tool communicator sounded.

"Hey Commander, good news," came Joker's voice.

"Not now, not now," Miranda pouted, looking like she was about to cry.

"Joker, can this wait?"

"Not really," replied the helmsman. "Looks like the Reaper IFF is finally hooked up and ready to go."

"That is not entirely accurate, Mister Moreau," came Edi's voice. Shepard cut them off.

"I'll be up shortly," he said. "You can tell me about it then. Shepard out." He turned off his omni-tool, and looked back at Miranda.

"Duty calls, Commander," she said, sitting up. "Don't worry," she added coyly, "The next time things are quiet, I'll be by. Promise." She leaned in and kissed him very passionately, then sat back quickly, smiling. "Go to them, Shepard. It's time we started putting this together. The sooner we're done with the Collectors, the sooner we can start planning that future we just discussed."

"Damn omni-tool," he cursed. "Alright, Miranda, I'll see you soon." He kissed her again, and said, "I love you."

"Love you too, Shepard."

 **{-O-}**

Shepard stepped into the lift, and before he selected his floor, Kelly Chambers messaged him, directing him to meet with Legion first. In checking in with Legion, he found that Legion had vital information, an opportunity that Shepard could not pass up. Legion had the location of the Geth Heretics' (Geth who followed the Reapers) base of operations. It was from this base that all of the Geth attacks had been launched, including Eden Prime. If they could take out this base, they could seriously hamper the Reaper's efforts; or at least that was the hope.

He summoned Miranda and Jacob to the debriefing room, and they unanimously agreed with him on this, and the rest of the team was always enthused about the idea of blowing up massive amounts of Geth. Thus, the decision was made to go. When Shepard came out to chart the course, Joker piped in once again.

"Like I said earlier, Commander, the Reaper IFF is hooked up and ready to go."

"Again, that is not entirely accurate, Mister Moreau," countered Edi. "The device is powered, but it is causing some unusual instability in other systems. I recommend a more thorough analysis before we attempt to use it."

"We can't put our mission on hold forever," Shepard replied. "How long will this take?"

"A full scan?" asked Joker. "Who knows with this thing. Maybe you'd better take the shuttle for this mission. I'll make sure we're up and running when you get back. Good hunting, Commander."

 **{-O-}**

They boarded the shuttle together; Shepard, Miranda, Jacob, and the entire team. She had to admit that seeing them all assembled was impressive. It was a multi-species force, and one that Miranda herself had grown quite proud of. Even Jack and Grunt had come to impress her as they had worked together. And speaking of Jack, there was something that had to be said. As Jack walked past her, Miranda caught her arm.

"What the fuck? You touch me again, bi … "

"I'm sorry, Jack," Miranda said.

"Not as sorry as you're gonna …" But Miranda cut her off.

"No, I meant about earlier," Miranda clarified. "I was wrong, you were right. Cerberus' actions with you … what they did to you, it was wrong. I did some of my own digging, and that cell was not so rogue as I was led to believe. A lot of things weren't as I was led to believe. I thought you should know that."

Jack shifted back and forth, unsure of what to say. She looked like she wanted to fight, but the wind had just been taken out of her sails. She clenched her fists, gritted her teeth, and Miranda braced for the biotic onslaught, but it never came. Instead, Jack unclenched her fists and relaxed a little, finally turning to her.

"I still don't like you," Jack emphasized. "You're a goddam spoiled little rich kid, and you ignore what you don't wanna see, no matter how much you're told. Until it bites you in the ass, that is. But … I know it took a lot for you to say that, so thanks."

"I don't like you either, Jack," replied Miranda. "But I thought you should know that." She extended her hand and said, "So, peace?"

"Yeah, peace," said Jack, smiling slightly, and shaking her hand. "Maybe you're alright after all."

 **{-O-}**

The mission went well, and they actually found that they had an option of, rather than destroying the station, sending out a signal that would rewrite the Heretic Geth, undoing the Reaper influenced. Miranda and Jacob both agreed that this was a far more thorough solution than simply dealing with those Geth aboard the station through destroying it.

With that done, they proceeded back to the Normandy, still riding high when the message came in from Edi: The Reaper IFF had a hidden trap that had broadcast the Normandy's location to the Collectors. The crew had been abducted, and only through Joker unshackling Edi had they been able to save the ship. Shepard was needed back as soon as possible.

 **{-O-}**

"Everyone?" Miranda exclaimed more than asked as she stormed into the room, "You lost everyone and damn near lost the ship too?"

"I know, alright? I was here," groaned Joker.

"It's not his fault Miranda," Jacob said in Joker's defense. "None of us caught it."

"Mister Taylor is correct," added Edi. "The harmful data in the Collector drive was even more sophisticated than the black box Reaper viruses I was given."

"I heard it was a rough ride," Shepard said to Joker, more concerned about Joker's well-being than with blaming him. "How are you holding up?"

Joker looked off into the distance, saying, "There's a lot of empty chairs in here."

"We did everything we could, Jeff," said Edi.

Shepard noticed that Edi was now addressing Joker by his first name. This was a new level of familiarity. More importantly, however, Edi had indeed saved the ship.

"Yeah, thanks mom," replied Joker somberly.

"Is the ship clean?" Shepard asked. "We can't risk this happening again."

"Edi and I purged the systems," Joker said, now looking at Shepard. "The Reaper IFF is online; we can go through the Omega 4 Relay whenever you want, Commander."

"Don't even get me started about unshackling a damned AI," scolded Miranda tersely, standing with her arms crossed, a very unhappy expression on her face.

"What could I do against Collectors, break my arm at them?" asked Joker in frustration. "Edi cleared the ship. She's alright." Joker finally stood, ready to return to the cockpit.

"I assure you," added Edi, "I am still bound by protocols in my programming. Even if I were not, you are my crew."

"Edi's had plenty of opportunity to kill us," observed Shepard. "We need all the help we can get."

"Looks like we have everything we need to rescue the crew," said Jacob hopefully.

"We've done everything we can," agreed Miranda. "It's time to take the fight to the Collectors."

"I'll give the order soon," Shepard confirmed. "Get to your stations and prepare for general quarters."

"Great, here we go again," groaned Joker. "Hit the map whenever you're ready, Commander." He saluted and headed to the cockpit.


	19. Chapter 19: Love and Vengeance

**Chapter 19: Love and Vengeance**

Shepard stood at the galaxy map, looking out at the empty CIC. He felt the anger and rage building inside of him. These Collectors had destroyed the old Normandy, killing twenty of her crew, twenty one if he included himself. They had been abducting human colonists, and had tried many times on this mission to kill him personally. This was the last straw. He took that anger and rage and held onto it, focusing it, channeling it into a finely honed weapon, a weapon that he would unleash on the Collectors when they went through the Omega 4 Relay, taking the fight to the Collector's home turf. Sensing him standing at the Galaxy map, Edi addressed him.

"Please confirm a destination, Shepard. The Reaper IFF is online, but there is a chance that the Normandy may not survive the Omega 4 Relay. Once we are enroute, we are committed."

"The Collectors are about to find out what happens when you piss me off," he growled.

"You got it, Commander," said Joker. "Plotting a course for the Omega 4 Relay, ETA about two hours."

He turned and walked back down from the galaxy map, calling the lift to take him to his cabin. As the doors opened, Miranda was exiting. They almost bumped into each other.

"Oh," Miranda gasped. "Pardon me, Commander." Then she embraced him and stood up on her tip toes to give him a deep, passionate kiss. "John, before we arrive, can I be with you? Not to go all the way, but to just be with you."

"Of course," he said, scooping her up and carrying her to the lift.

 **{-O-}**

Miranda lounged in Shepard's arms on the sectional. She loved the closeness. Emotionally, they were inextricably connected now, Miranda bound to the dashing commander, and he to Miranda. She drifted off at some point, safe in his arms. He was like a safe harbor from a stormy sea, but he was also much more than that. Niket had been 'safe,' but in all the wrong ways. Shepard was not only safe, but he was also a partner with whom she could take the most daring of risks.

At some point, Shepard stirred and sat up. He looked down at her, a bittersweet smile on his face. She knew how he felt; their time together had been wonderful, but it was overshadowed by the loss of the crew and the enormity of the mission before them. Miranda had not allowed herself to get close to anyone since leaving home; Niket was the last one that she had let in, but she was fond of some of the crew. Hawthorne and Goldstein; who always greeted her and made small talk, Kelly Chambers; who was ever encouraging. She thought the yeoman's obvious crush on the commander was rather cute. Then there was Rupert Gardner; the mess sergeant who always had a cheerful word and a hearty meal. And Doctor Chakwas, who while not Cerberus, had become something of a friend. Miranda had a fairly extensive medical background, and Karin Chakwas was one of the few people aboard with whom she could have in depth discussions on the topic. She also found the older woman to be admirably skilled. The fact that Karin was like an aunt to the man she loved, and had flown with that man on his mission to track Saren and finally to stop Sovereign and the Geth was not lost on her.

"Don't worry, John," she said, reaching up to touch his cheek. "We'll get them back."

He leaned down and kissed her deeply, enfolding her in his powerful arms once again. She reveled in his embrace, and at the same time, felt a swell of professional pride; she had rebuilt John practically from the ground up, and the results had been far more than satisfactory. _And after we return, consummately satisfying as well_ , she thought, a blush spreading across her face.

"What's on your mind?" he asked, a contented look on his face. She was probably one of two people who could sense the well hidden anxiousness he was feeling about the crew, trying to infringe on that contentedness.

"You," she replied. She smiled, and then looked up at the sky window in his cabin, watching the stars go by above. It was very serene; she wished she could stay here with him forever. "I was also thinking about the crew," she added, her own anxiousness now visible. "Shepard, some of them … some were becoming like friends to me. I've had some 'friends' since joining Cerberus; not close, mind you, but friendly acquaintances. I care about them, John. I lost some on Project Overlord, and some of them are waiting for us to rescue them somewhere beyond the Omega 4 Relay."

"As you say, Miranda," he assured her, "we'll get them back." Then his eyes narrowed and his expression took on the strength of steel. "I owe them for taking my crew. I owe them for destroying the old Normandy and killing twenty of her crew. And I owe them for every human life they've taken since this all began. And once we hit that relay, it'll be payback time. And I'll make damn sure they never do anything like this again. Ever."

The intensity in his voice not only reassured her, it actually served to arouse her. She knew many people who would have become fearful or nervous at hearing speak as he did, but Miranda was a kindred spirit. She too had the same fire and passion. She hid it well; most thought of her as cold and unfeeling. But that was all a mask; she let nobody ever see the real Miranda Lawson. Nobody, that is, except Commander John Shepard. She turned in his embrace, kissing him. They kissed, entwined in each other's arms until Joker's voice came over the intercom.

"Commander, we're about to hit the Omega 4 Relay. You'd better get down here."

"On my way, Joker," he said, sitting up.

Miranda sat up with him, steeling as many moments of affection as they could in the process.

"Thank you, Miranda," he said, leaning down and kissing her. "I love you."

"I love you too, Shepard," she replied. "And thank you. For everything."

Then he took her hand and they boarded the lift together.

 **{-O-}**

Shepard and Miranda walked to the cockpit hand in hand. Just before entering, she stopped him, then stood in front of him. He began to lean down to kiss her, but she held up a hand. Smiling, she placed her finger on his lips.

"This is your mission," she said. "I believe in you, Shepard. I believe that you really can do the impossible, and not only lead us to victory, but also bring us home. I willingly and gladly place my life and my heart in your hands." Then, she stood up on tiptoes and kissed him.

"Mine is in yours, Miranda," he replied, kissing her in return. "We'll get this done together. And then maybe we can start building that life together we've been talking about."

"Now wouldn't that be nice. No matter what happens, John Shepard, I love you," she declared. "Now do what you were born to do; rescue our crew, bring these bastards down, and save the galaxy!"

He nodded, and then kissed her deeply in response. Then he turned and strode into the cockpit, Miranda at his side. He knew how hard it was for her to place her life into his hands, to give up control and command. All her life, she had fought to be independent, and in charge of her own destiny. Now, her life literally was in his hands; his, and the hands of Joker. He would not let her down.

"Approaching Omega 4 Relay," announced Joker as Shepard entered. "Everyone stand by."

"Let's make it happen," Shepard replied, anxious to get the mission underway.

The Omega 4 Relay loomed large in the Normandy's windows. Massive, it somehow seemed even larger than the regular relays. It glowed with an angry orange fire instead of the cool blue of other relays. It had an air of foreboding, almost as though they were approaching the very gate to Hell itself. _Perhaps it was, in a way_ , he thought. The hellish glow seemed to brighten as the Normandy approached, and Shepard heard Miranda gulp from behind him at the sight.

"Reaper IFF activated," said Edi's synthesized voice, as the ship sped faster towards the angry portal. "Signal acknowledged."

The ship began to vibrate and rumble in a way Shepard had never heard it before.

"Commander," came Jacob's voice from engineering over the com, "The drive core just lit up like a Christmas tree!"

"Drive core electrical charge at critical levels," declared Edi.

"Rerouting!" exclaimed Joker, frantically working the ship's controls.

They hit the relay and were catapulted out the other side faster than Shepard ever had been on any trip through the relay system. Miranda held his hand tightly through it all. And then Edi announced,

"Brace for deceleration."

"Shit!" exclaimed Joker, as the wreckage of a thousand ships was surrounding them at the other end. He pulled up sharply to avoid impact, only to find himself on a collision course with another ship, which he pulled right to avoid. After several near misses, they came into the clear, and the helmsman breathed a sigh of relief. "Too close!"

As the Normandy cruised through this graveyard of space ships, they realized that the space was illuminated. The ships were all dead, no signs of life.

"These must be all the ships that tried to make it through the Omega 4 Relay," Joker speculated. "Some look … ancient!"

Shepard and Miranda looked wordlessly at the ships of those who had tried and failed to make it through before them. Countless lives had been lost in the many attempts over possibly thousands of years.

"I have detected an energy signature near the edge of the accretion disc," announced Edi, interrupting his thoughts.

Looking ahead as far as the eye could see, the graveyard of ships stretched out. But at the edge of the accretion disc, just as Edi had said, there was a massive structure, visible to the naked eye. It reminded Shepard of a massive version of a Collector ship, over a hundred times larger.

"It has to be the Collector Base," Shepard declared. "Take us in for a closer look. Nice and easy."

Joker did as Shepard asked, setting course for their target. Miranda gripped Shepard's hand tightly as they continued. Her face looked stoic, but he could feel her trembling. She was scared, but only he would have known it. And who could blame her? This was the end of the line; their final destination. But unlike the crews of these dead ships, Shepard had a plan. And he was determined that it would succeed.

It did not take them long to pick up a few tails, however, as automated drones began swarming them. Joker did his best to shake them in the debris field, but one actually forced its way into the Normandy's cargo bay. Shepard would have to leave Miranda's side, and lead a team to deal with it. He, Garrus, and Grunt took care of it. The fight took seemingly forever, chasing it out, only to have it come right back in, but finally, a well-placed shot from Shepard's widow rifle did it in. He returned to the cockpit as soon as he was done, eager to be back at Miranda's side.

 **{-O-}**

"There it is," Miranda said, almost fearfully. "The Collector Base."

Shepard now stood beside her, his confidence buoying her by his mere presence.

"See if you can find a place to land without drawing attention," Shepard said to Joker, not a trace of fear in his voice. After the harrowing dogfight through the debris field, Miranda was very glad of the upgrades they had done to the ship; Normandy came through without any major damage, and no injuries to any on board. She quite frankly surprised, but very pleasantly so; she had fully expected the ship to have taken major damage.

"Too late," replied the helmsman. "Looks like they're sending out an old friend to greet us!"

Miranda gasped as they saw the Collector ship come forth from its berth in the Collector base. Though it was much smaller than the base, it was still a good hundred times the size of the Normandy. And it had destroyed the original Normandy. But kinetic barriers, shields, and armor plating were not the only thing that Shepard had upgraded.

"Time to show them we give as good as we get," he growled. "Time to show them our new teeth!"

"Right," said Joker enthusiastically.

Bringing the Normandy in, Joker skillfully averted the Collector ship's powerful guns. Watching Joker fly with Shepard there in the cockpit, it was the first time she had truly noticed the synergy of the two men. It was as though Joker could read Shepard's intentions and translate them into action. And unlike any captain Miranda had seen, Shepard conducted the battle as though he were a general presiding over the entire theatre. When the moment was right, Shepard growled,

"Fire the main gun!"

Joker did as Shepard bid, and Miranda was momentarily blinded by the flash from the powerful Thanix canons that Shepard and Garrus had fitted to the Normandy. Joker's aim was true, and the shot went straight down the throat of the Collector ship's main gun, damaging it severely.

"Get in close and finish 'em off," ordered the Commander.

"Everyone hold on," exclaimed Joker, a smile on his face. "Gonna be a wild ride!"

These two were actually enjoying themselves, Miranda realized. Amazing, she thought. Joker did as Shepard ordered, and got in close, saying,

"Give 'em hell, girl," as he punched the firing button, unleashing another blast from the Thanix, destroying the Collector ship utterly.

"Look out," shouted Miranda, as the Normandy was caught in the blast. Joker skillfully rode it out, but the systems were overloaded, and the Normandy was forced to crash land on the exterior of the Collector Base. The impact tossed them all about, and Miranda felt like she had just punched by a Krogan several times. She had a metallic taste in her mouth, and her head throbbed. Shepard's hand found hers and she felt him help her to her feet. She leaned on him for a few moments to steady herself, then stood on her own. Nothing was broken. He looked at her with concern, but she smiled and kissed him.

"I'm alright," she assured him.

"Joker, you alright?" he then asked the helmsman.

"Ungh!" responded Joker. "I think I broke rib." He began to sit up, then said, "Or all of them."

"Multiple core systems overloaded during the crash," Edi announced. "Restoring operation will take time."

Shepard could never have anticipated this, she realized. They were never going home.

"We all knew this was likely a one way trip," she lamented, pushing aside her despair; they had a mission to complete, and live or die, they would complete it. At least she had experienced the love of her life before she died. But the resolute commander was not having it.

"We're here to take down the Collectors," he affirmed, "but I plan to live to tell about it."

"Glad you're in charge of the mission," said a relieved Joker.

"How long until the Collectors find this landing zone?" Shepard asked.

"I do not detect an internal security network," announced Edi. "It is possible the Collectors never expected anyone to reach the base."

"If we're lucky," added Joker, "their external sensors were hit like we were. They might not know we're alive."

"Edi will provide us with schematics based on any scans she can make now that we're here," announced Shepard. Miranda could see the plan coming together as he spoke. She did not know what it was, but she knew the look he had when the plan came together. "Once we figure out how we're going to destroy the station, and we will figure it out, we won't have much time. So I want us moving by the time we're done. So Edi, get to work on those scans immediately; I want that data in ten minutes, no less. Then I want the two of you to get this ship running. We'll need to evac our crew, and any colonists who are still alive. And we'll need to hit that relay, or be damn close to it before the station blows and sends those bastards straight to hell! Miranda, tell the team to suit up; I want everyone in the debriefing room in fifteen. Dismissed!"

"Yes, Sir!" Miranda exclaimed, a smile on her face once again. She could not help herself; this was what she loved about him; he never gave up, he never surrendered. He always did the right thing, no matter what. And he had made it plain that "the right thing" was to get their crew, get the team out, go home, and start a life with her. _We can do this_ , she thought. _We really can do this, and live to tell about it!_

Miranda put on her body armor and selected her Phalanx pistol and Shuriken submachine gun. They were her favorites, her old standbys. She had tried the Locust, the tempest, and other submachinegun models, all of which fired more bullets and did more damage, but none were as accurate as her Shuruken, and they all wasted bullets needlessly. This mission was going to be deep in enemy territory, deeper than any mission had ever been; she wanted reliability and accuracy. And her Phalanx? There was never any question about that; the best combination of accuracy and punch. Shepard liked the Carnifex; a massive hand cannon, and he was deadly accurate with it. But Miranda did not have the strength to deal with the recoil of that gun. The Phalanx, however, was nearly as strong, and had less than half the recoil. Plus it held more shots and had the laser sights. With a final diagnostic check of her hardsuit computer and shields, she took the lift to the debriefing room. She was surprised to see Shepard waiting for her when the doors opened.

"Shepard?" She felt herself blush slightly. He stood in his full heavy armor, holding his helmet in his left arm. He was the picture of confidence and power.

"I saw you had called the lift, so I just rode down to meet you," he explained. "This'll be our last bit of time alone until this is all over, so I wanted to do this." As the doors closed, he enfolded her in his arms and kissed her passionately. "I love you, Miranda Lawson. We'll get through this, and then we'll get home and start looking at honeymoon destinations."

"You mean …"

"Yes," he said. "I want to spend my life with you, Miranda; Reaper invasions, and all."

"Yes," she said, craning her neck and stretching on her tip toes, and kissing him. "Yes, yes, yes, Shepard, a million times, yes!"

"Miranda, you just made me the happiest man in the galaxy!"


	20. Chapter 20: Suicide Mission

**Chapter 20: Suicide Mission**

Miranda could feel the anticipation as they entered the debriefing room, the entire team assembled and going over their weapons, making any final checks. Shepard had gone to the cockpit to check in with Joker one last time, so Miranda joined the others in making final checks. There was an energy in the room, a building tension; everyone knew the score. With the Normandy badly damaged and deep in hostile territory, they knew that this was probably the end. Miranda, however, refused to believe that any longer. She had a future to live for. They were all waiting on Shepard.

Suddenly, Jacob stood and saluted. Miranda felt the tension shift to excitement as the Commander entered and returned Jacob's salute, a determined look in his eye, and a sneer on his face. Shepard then shook Jacob's hand, giving him a friendly slap on the back. Everyone put their weapons down and a hush fell over the room. Shepard's words were appropriate, thought she knew that he was very interested in whether or not they made it home.

"This isn't how we planned this mission, but this is where we're at," the Commander announced. "We can't worry about whether the Normandy can get us home. We came to stop the Collectors, and that means coming up with a plan to take out this station. Edi, bring up your scan."

Miranda watched as Edi dutifully brought up her read of the station, and it was surprisingly detailed.

"You should be able to overload their critical systems if you get to the main control room here," Edi's voice announced.

"That means going through the heart of the station," observed Jacob, confirming her own assessment. "Right past this massive energy signature."

"That's the central chamber," Shepard confirmed. "If our crew or any of the colonists are still alive, the Collectors are probably holding them in there."

"Looks like there are two main routes," Jacob noted. "Might be a good idea to spit up to keep the Collectors off balance, then regroup at the central chamber."

"No good," Miranda countered. "Both routes are blocked. See those doors? The only way past is to get someone to open them from the other side."

"A few well-placed explosives should clear a path," said Shepard, but Edi put a damper on the notion.

"There is insufficient ordinance on board to create an explosion capable of damaging the interior walls."

Miranda expected him to be frustrated, but Shepard never missed a beat.

"If we can't blast our way through," he said, "then we'll use stealth. Someone could sneak through this ventilation shaft here."

"Practically a suicide mission," declared Jacob. "I volunteer."

"I appreciate the thought," said Miranda, shaking her head, "but you couldn't shut down the security systems in time." She then looked at Shepard. "We need to send a tech expert."

"It's your call, Commander," said Jacob. "Who do we send into the shaft."

Shepard looked down for a moment, seeming to collect his thoughts. Miranda suspected that he already knew who he was going to send. He looked up and directed his gaze to Legion.

"Legion, you can hack anything," he said. "And you'll have a better chance of surviving the ventilation shaft."

"Acknowledged, Shepard Commander," replied the Geth.

"The rest of us will break into two teams and fight down each passage," Shepard continued. "That should draw the Collectors' attention away from what you're doing, Legion."

"I'll lead the second fire-team, Shepard," Miranda volunteered. "We'll meet up with you on the other side of the doors."

"Not so fast, cheerleader," Jack interjected. "Nobody wants to take orders from you."

"This isn't a popularity contest," Miranda scolded. "Lives are at stake. Shepard – you need someone who can command loyalty through experience."

"Miranda's right," Shepard said. "She should lead the second team."

"Just 'cause …" Jack began, but Shepard put his hand up to silence her.

"Don't even go there, Jack," he said evenly. "You've seen me in action long enough to know that I don't make command decisions based on personal relationships. Besides, even if you hadn't seen me first hand, my reputation should speak for itself. Miranda knows what she's doing. I know exactly who I want with whom, and why."

Jack looked perturbed, but she held her tongue; there was no gainsaying Commander Shepard.

"Thank you Shepard," Miranda said, feeling very empowered by his support of her offer to lead the team. "I won't let you down."

"I know you won't, Miranda," he replied with a smile. Then he looked at Jack and said, "And don't worry, Jack; you won't have to take any orders from Miranda. You'll be with me, so I expect you to unleash your full ferocity on the Collectors. No holding back."

Jack smiled wickedly at this. "No worries there, Commander."

"Good," he said, now shifting his focus to the team as a whole. With the plan in place, he had one last thing to do; get their heads in the game.

"Once we're in, they're going to throw everything they have at us. If we're weak, if we're slow, if we hesitate, we'll die." Then his eyes narrowed and his gaze became as hard and unwavering as steel. Shepard's rage was focused, palpable, and it fed the rage and anger of everyone in the room. It burned away the fear, and the doubt. He pounded the table saying, "The Collectors attacked our ship. They took our crew, our friends. They think we're helpless. They're wrong. They started a war, but we're not here to finish it. We're here to make them regret – to show them, and everyone else what happens when you go too far. No more running. No more waiting." He pointed at them, and growled, "Let's hit them where they live!"

 **{-O-}**

As soon as they were out of the ship, each team found their respective entrance. Shepard had tasked Joker and Edi with getting that ship up and running A.S.A.P., and he expected no less than 500% effort from them on it. Mirand had said yes. She said YES! There was no way he was dying here, not with a life with Miranda ahead of him. The Collectors, the Reapers, and anything that stood in their way would be put down. Shepard refused to be denied, and he refused to see Miranda denied. She deserved a life of happiness, and he was determined to give her that life, no matter what.

The fighting ramped up to a level of intensity beyond anything he'd dealt with since the Blitz almost as soon as they were in. Jack, true to her word, unleased her full fury, reveling in the destruction of their enemies. Shepard had taken Jack and Zaeed, and the trio proved a fine match in a ground fight. Jack, for her part, had never had the experience of having soldiers at her back, and Shepard could tell that she was enjoying it. Zaeed was throwing incendiary grenades and firing incendiary ammo from his Vindicator riffle, shouting obscenities at their foes all the while, everything around him becoming a raging inferno.

As for himself, Shepard had equipped his hardsuit for extra ammunition packs and extra heavy ammunition, and brought his most powerful weapons. He waded into battle, every bit the juggernaut of destruction that Miranda had become fond of calling him, unleashing a withering field of fire, laced with concussive blasts, and like Zaeed, throwing incendiary grenades. He closed with his foes often, crushing them with powerful blows, venting all of his rage, all of his frustrations with Cerberus, the Council, the Alliance, and Ashley on the hapless Collectors. Harbinger reared his head frequently as they pressed further and further into the superstructure, but Shepard was more than ready for the avatars of the obnoxious Reaper. The Armor piercing rounds of his Mattock rifle punched through the creature's plating, taking it out faster than it could respond. On many occasions, he braved Harbinger's attacks, closing with the fiend's avatars and taking them out in hand to hand.

"Shepard," he heard Jack shout with admiration, "You're insane!" Then he heard Zaeed shout, "Gut the bastards!" Shepard just smiled. _Payback is hell_ , he thought. But all through it, he kept hearing Harbinger's voice level taunts at them. "This hurts you Shepard. If I must, I will destroy you," and other one line taunts. It made him wonder if Harbinger had tuned into the action vids to try to figure out how to intimidate its human foes. He shook his head as spun, taking out one of the avatars with an elbow strike to its head, snapping its neck. No amount of trash talk was going to save the Collectors. It was time to put the Protheans in the grave once and for all.

 **{-O-}**

Miranda and her much larger team made a progressive press into the base. With Thane and Garrus, they had two of the finest snipers in existence, allowing Miranda to use them as rooks. The indefatigable Grunt led the charge, while she directed Kasumi ahead, using her shadow strike ability to sew confusion and chaos behind the enemy lines as she, Jacob, and Samara protected Mordin and Tali with powerful biotic assaults, allowing the Salarian and Quarian tech experts to utilize their abilities to the fullest. Samara was amazing; she led the charge with abandon, and when they finally clashed, Samara danced between her foes, her every attack producing deadly results. She was by far the most powerful biotic Miranda had ever seen, even more so than Jack, and her combat experience was measured in centuries. As they pressed further and further into the base, Miranda thought that Shepard truly had assembled the greatest team the galaxy had ever seen.

Harbinger made sure to taunt them with avatars along the way, and it was not long before Scions were making focused artillery attacks on Garrus and Thane. But with her own biotic power, she kept the snipers and tech experts safe, while warping barriers and armor and making biotic attacks of her own, lifting her foes high into the air and then bringing them down like bombs on their own comrades, splattering them all in the process. Between biotic attacks, she sprayed covering fire to aid Kasumi as she continued to decimate the enemy from within their own lines.

Mordin and Tali proved deadly as well, with Mordin's incineration attacks burning swaths of enemies, and Tali using her tech to drain the shields and barriers of the enemy, allowing gunfire to tear them apart. Garrus and Thane kept taking heads off of the enemy with their powerful sniper rifles every time Tali lowered their barriers, and frequently, even when she did not. Garrus seemed to take perverse pleasure in blowing apart the heads of Harbinger's avatars midsentence, calling out trash talk of his own.

Grunt, their own juggernaut of destruction, charged deep paths into the enemy lines opening the way for her team, bellowing, "I AM KROGAN," and "FEEL THE BLOOD RAGE!" all the while. Foes went down like bowling pins before the massive Krogan purebred. And he was still a juvenile! She could not imagine how formidable he would be when he finally reached adulthood.

The fighting was the most intense Miranda had ever experienced, but with this much larger team, she was able to really maximize her abilities, and was never in danger of losing consciousness as she had the first time they boarded a Collector vessel. But the long, punishing fights were draining on the biotic abilities of herself and Jacob, and she noticed that even Samara was making use of her weapons more now than she had at the outset. Not only that, the lengthy and frequent expenditure of biotic power had drained Miranda physically as well. Jacob probably suffered the same, but he was in tremendous physical condition and simply did as Samara had, and shifted to gunplay without missing a beat.

Miranda really hated ground assault, and she really wished Shepard were with her. She only hoped that he was okay; he only had two people with him, and his path was actually more of a deathtrap than the one she and her team had taken. Her radio crackled to life, and she heard Shepard's voice.

"Miranda, we're almost there. How're you holding up?"

"Shepard, thank God! I was worried. They're wearing us down, but we're holding. We're almost there too. How are you doing?"

"Kicking ass!"

 _Figures_ , she thought. While she and her team were at a point where they had to conserve energy and she was worried about the last part of the push, Shepard was enjoying himself. She could hear Jack and Zaeed shouting obscenities at the Collectors in the background, and the two were clearly pleased with their work.

"Just get through in one piece," she pled. "I love you, Shepard."

"I love you too, Miranda! See you on the flip side. Shepard out."

 **{-O-}**

Shepard's trio made it to the door. Miranda had already made it through their last barrier, and now, his trio was pinned at their own. He had no problem killing Collectors; he would happily do so for a few more hours. But thermal clips were running low. He knew Miranda's team had an ammo crate with them, but that would not help them on this side of the door. He was really missing the days of weapons with the heat limiters and no clips; heavier, and you had to be careful not to overheat them, but they were much better for extended fighting like this.

Finally, the doors opened. Miranda came through, just as he knew she would. They hurried in, then laid down more fire as Tali tried desperately to get the doors closed behind them. Miranda directed Garrus, Jacob, and Grunt to join Shepard, Zaeed, and Jack in defending the door.

"Suppressing fire! Hold the door," Miranda ordered as she took her side with Shepard. The seven of them unloaded their weapons on the enemy, taking out fifty at least by the time Tali got the door closed. Amazingly, there were no casualties.

"Damn, that felt good," he exclaimed, finally able to relax and take a breath. "Great work Legion, Tali. I knew you wouldn't let me down."

Before they could answer, he heard Miranda's voice, a serious, and worried edge to her words.

"Shepard, you need to see this," was all she said, but her tone got his attention.

It did not take him long to see what she was pointing to. Now that he was not fighting at the door, he saw the horror of the room; the chamber was cavernous, containing hundreds … no, thousands of upright pods containing … people. A complex network of tubes connected to each pod and then was routed to another part of the base. They walked close to inspect them, and he recognized one of the victims; she wore a uniform that marked her as Horizon Colonial staff. Her name tag said "Lilith." Shepard remembered that obnoxious colonist, Delan, saying, "They got Lilith."

"The missing colonists," exclaimed Jacob, echoing Shepard's own conclusion. Then something began flooding into the tube, it was like thousands of miniature seekers. Lilith began moving, writhing in pain as the machines began liquefying her.

"Oh my God," Shepard exclaimed, "they're alive! Get them out!" He began striking the glass with the butt of his rifle, he broke through, but by the time he got the glass opened, she was too far gone to be saved, melting away before his eyes.

"The crew!" He heard Miranda's exclamation, turning to help those he could hopefully still save. The colonists were dead, Lilith being the last of them, but the crew was only beginning to be processed. He got to the first pod and began pounding at the edges this time, breaking the mechanism and opening the pod, releasing Mess Sergeant Gardner, then went to the next, each of his team doing the same. They worked feverishly and rapidly, with the powerful Grunt literally tearing the lids off with his bare hands. Shepard was so glad he had recruited the massive Krogan. Amazingly, they saved all of their captured crew, Doctor Chakwas being the last, falling into Shepard's arms.

"Doctor Chakwas," he exclaimed as he gently laid the Normandy's doctor on the floor, Miranda kneeling down to check on her. Miraculously, all of the crew began waking up, now freed from the Collectors' pods. Doctor Chakwas stirred, sitting up with help.

"Shepard? You came for us," she gasped.

"No one gets left behind," Shepard declared, helping her to her feet.

The doctor smiled weakly, relieved beyond measure at being saved by her old friend.

"You came," gasped Kelly. "Another second and … I don't even want to think about it!"

"The colonists were processed," the doctor explained, "Those swarms of little robots melted their bodies into gray liquid, then pumped it through these tubes."

"What … what are they doing with our genetic material?" asked Miranda as she contemplated the tubes. In one sentence, Miranda had changed Shepards's perception of what was happening. The Collectors weren't just melting their victims down and devouring them; the Collectors were doing something far more sinister. Shepard did not know what it was, but as bad as being devoured was, the Collectors were doing something worse.

"Whatever it is," Shepard said with finality, "it ends here."

"We've done well so far. Let's hope we can finish the job." Miranda's words echoed his own thoughts, though there was no 'let's hope' in Shepard's mind; they were here to rescue the crew and destroy this cursed base. The first part had been accomplished. Now for the second part.

"Joker," said Shepard, activating the com, "can you get a fix on our position."

"Roger that," came Joker's voice over the com. "All those tubes lead into the main control room right above you. The route is blocked by a security door, but there's another chamber that runs parallel to the one you're in."

"I cannot recommend that," came Edi's voice. "Thermal emissions suggest that the chamber is overrun with seeker swarms. Mordin's countermeasure cannot protect you against so many at once."

"What about biotics?" Shepard asked, looking directly at Miranda, Samara, Jack, and Jacob. "Someone could put up a biotic field to ward off the swarms."

"I could generate a field to protect a small team," said Samara.

"I could as well. In theory, any biotic could." Miranda's assessment meant that Shepard could choose between five biotics; Samara, Jack, Jacob, Grunt, and Miranda herself.

Miranda seemed to want desperately to be the one to shield Shepard in the chamber. He wondered if it was her love for him or her desperate need to prove herself. Or something else perhaps. Regardless, he had to choose one of them. Jacob and Grunt were far more useful as biotically enhanced soldiers, and he did not want to lose their combat prowess for this. That left Miranda, Jack, and Samara. One of them, however, was going to need to get the crew back to the ship, and only these three had the power to protect the crew as a whole all by themselves. Unfortunately, he could not spare more than one of the team to escort the crew back, so it had to be one of his powerful biotic squad mates. He would need Miranda's scientific expertise going further in, so that left Samara and Jack to escort the crew. Which meant that one of them or Miranda would have to bring the team through the chamber with him.

"Miranda and I will take a small team through the seeker swarms," Shepard declared. "The rest of you provide a diversion by going through the main passage. We'll open the security door from the other side and meet you there."

"What about us?" asked Doctor Chakwas. "We cannot make it back on our own and we're in no condition to fight."

"We've got enough systems up that the Normandy can drop in for a pick up a few clicks back from your current position," came Joker's voice over the intercom, an immense relief to Shepard, who thought the crew would have to be escorted back through the entire route which he had taken to get here.

"Samara," said Shepard gravely, "these people are my family, my friends. Their lives are precious. Bring them back, all of them back to the Normandy."

"You have my word, Shepard. They will be fine, I assure you." Her solemn words reassured him. He embraced her briefly.

"Thank you Samara," he said. "This means a great deal to me."

"Jack, I want you on the diversion team," Shepard ordered. "Don't hold back." Then he turned to Garrus, saying, "I want you in charge of the diversion team. Lead them like you led your team on Omega, Garrus. Treat these Collector vermin like they're nothing more than a pack of Eclipse mercs."

"I'll keep their defenses busy while you slip in the back. We'll take them out and meet you on the other side," Shepard heard the Turian declare in his duotone voice.

"We've all got our assignments," said Shepard. "Take a moment, fuel up, and let's move out!"

 **{-O-}**

Miranda dug into her ration packs and ate two energy bars and downed an energy drink. Her powerful biotics had been capable of amazing displays of power, hurtling enemies aside, crushing mechs, and providing an extra layer of shielding during combat. But they had never been tested like this. The onslaught of the seeker swarms would be intense and unrelenting, and she would have to project and maintain a barrier at near maximum strength for longer than she ever had. This would not be rapid movement interspersed with periods of intense combat; this would be slow movement through a sustained assault interspersed with periods of intense combat. When Shepard had selected his fire team, he had told them that even with the distraction, the fighting would likely be the most intense they had experienced so far; Harbinger would know where they were, and there would only be three in the fight. Not only would they need to take down the enemy, but they would need to protect Miranda, which severely limited their mobility on the battlefield. Miranda's endurance would be tested to its absolute limit. Shepard's reassuring hand suddenly rested on her shoulder.

"Are you ready?" His calm voice soothed her, taking away the edge of her fear.

"Ready, John. I promise, I won't let you down."

"I know, Miri." His smile gave her confidence. She had not realized that she needed it until he gave her that boost. "And don't worry; I'll be keeping you safe while you're keeping us safe."

When he said it, the last of her fear fled her. Miranda had never liked relying on others; it was a sign of weakness to her. Also, they always let her down, every single one of them. Niket was the biggest let down of them all. But finally, she had someone to whom she could entrust her very life, not to mention her heart. She felt a blush suffuse her cheeks and turned away, closing her eyes, saying, "John …"

She felt his finger lifted her chin gently and his lips meet her own and his arms encircle her. She surrendered to the passionate kiss for a moment that seemed to last forever until his lips pulled away, leaving her momentarily breathless. "I love you," was all he said before he let her go. Shepard and his chosen fire team, Mordin and Jacob, had already finished their own snacks and drinks. It was time.

"Move out!"

Shepard's normally rich baritone was ragged and rough from all of the shouting he had done in battling through the chamber with Jack and Zaeed. It was the only sign to her of the level of intensity he must have had to remain at to get through such harrowing ordeal. Miranda scolded herself for her doubts; she knew that she was not the only one who would be tested. She steeled herself for the onslaught of the seeker swarms as Shepard led them into adjacent chamber through what appeared to be a maintenance access. The access opened up into a foyer, where Miranda erected her barrier.

"Here goes," she said. Miranda concentrated with every fiber of her being, pushing her power outward, first merely away from her armor, and then further and further from her. First, Shepard was enveloped in the barrier. She felt his energy as her own energy washed over him. It was a warm, confidence, but more importantly, she could actually _feel_ his love for her. When they were done, she resolved to explore this with him during lovemaking. She pushed the barrier further, enveloping Mordin. She sensed a surprising amount of compassion from the Salarian scientist, and a calm confidence. Finally, her barrier enveloped Jacob. She felt the warmth of an old friend, and realized that like Shepard Jacob was someone who she could entrust her life to. A true friend. She smiled at the presence of the three soldiers under the protection of her barrier. Finally, she pushed it out several feet, creating a dome with a ten foot radius from her center point.

"I'm ready, Shepard," she finally said, confident that she was indeed ready. He reached toward her and gently held her outstretched hand. Then after kissing her gently, causing her to blush in spite of herself, he shouted,

"Move out!"

Upon hearing his order, she pressed forward with him from the foyer into the chamber.

The assault was almost instantaneous. Their coms were immediately rendered useless as the seeker swarms, thick like a London fog, blocked out any signal. Miranda felt as though a thousand wasps were stinging her through her barrier. The energy was foul, malevolent. She had never been one for the notion of seeing auras on others, but she realized that perhaps she could train herself to do just that. _Later_ , she thought. She marshalled her concentration and created a repellant energy that pushed the seekers back slightly, taking the edge off of the pain they were causing her. Then she found her center and mentally blocked out the pain.

She heard Harbinger's voice, but she could not make out the words; her own concentration made everything around her sound like it was coming from underwater. Almost as soon as Harbinger stopped speaking, gunfire erupted. The sound of her teammates' shots sounded muffled, as did their shouts and calls. It was hard enough defending against the seekers, but as the bullets ripped through her barrier, she realized that she needed to find cover until the fight was over.

"Taking cover," she shouted, finding a column that resembled a joined stalactite joined to stalagmite. She could not make out what was happening, but after a few very intense minutes, the gunfire died down and she saw her friends relax.

"Ready to move out," she called out to Shepard.

"Move out," she heard him say, briefly feeling his hand touch her cheek.

She began moving forward, following Shepard. They had to move slowly, or the seeker swarms would not bounce off of her barrier. They slowly turned a corner, and up ahead she could see that the passaged opened up into a massive cavern. The path ended about twenty meters ahead, and turned to the right. Floating in across the cavern she could see one of those levitating platforms like they had encountered in the Collector ship. As soon as it docked with the ledge at the end of their path, she realized that two scions were there, firing heavy artillery at them, as a pack of husks and exploding abominations came charging at them. Shepard's Widow rifle was out and firing at the two scions as Jacob and Mordin kept the husks and abominations at bay. Shepard took two clean headshots, killing them both instantly, and then seamlessly switching to his assault rifle and taking out the remaining husks and abominations. Miranda was always amazed at the ease with which the soldier shifted between weapons. It was almost as though they were a very part of him.

When they got to the end and turned right, the entered into another tunnel like corridor and were met with one of Harbinger's avatars and host of Collectors. Miranda felt Shepard grab her, shielding her from one of Harbinger's attacks. She was thankful for his cover as she took cover herself behind a support column. She recharged her barrier and swigged an energy drink as the fighting raged around her. She realized that the bottle was empty; she had no more left until they regrouped with Garrus's team. The fighting lasted about five minutes, and then Shepard got them moving into the cavern.

They barely went another twenty meters when they were intercepted by a platoon of husks and abominations, supported by two more scions with heavy artillery. Worse yet, there was no real cover for her; just a wall about a meter high that partitioned half of the passageway, with a very slender support column on the right side. This time, Shepard, Mordin, and Jacob had to be her cover. She felt powerless as she watched them take withering fire from the scions while being mauled by the husks and abominations. She watched in horror as the abominations threw themselves at her friends, exploding on impact, and draining their shields so that the husks could get in and do their work. A few husks got through to Miranda, pummeling her, and biting at her, but one of her friends always got to them before they could really hurt her or disrupt her concentration.

Then she saw Jacob go down, then finally Mordin, leaving only Shepard to shield her from the onslaught. She did not know how he did it, but he seemed to be everywhere at once, using his concussive blast techniques to send several of the enemy flying back at one time. Finally, he took down the scions and she watched as he switched to his Scimitar shotgun and took the remaining husks and abominations out. With the enemy dead, he used medigel to get Mordin and Jacob back on their feet, and as soon as they were standing, Shepard had them moving.

Miranda's body ached all over, and her head throbbed. Her legs felt leaden as she trudged along. Husks and abominations were coming out of every hole, nook, and cranny of the place, and Shepard was taking them out as soon as their heads were visible. Finally, they turned to the left at the top of a steep incline, and Miranda began to falter.

"I … I can't keep this up ... much longer …" she gasped, breathing shallowly and raggedly. No matter how hard she tried, she could not get enough air. She realized that her barrier had shrunk, now extending out only about five feet from her. Shepard steadied her and pulled her arm over his shoulder, helping her along. She felt his lips brush her cheek, and heard him whisper,

"Just a little further, Miranda."

Indeed, they turned left and there was a ramp descending to the chamber containing the security doors that they had to open for the other team. The only problem was that there were security doors on this side as well. _We're dead_ , she thought. But Shepard pressed forward, unperturbed. With the downward ramp, she was able to move more easily, allowing gravity to do some the work for her. Finally, they came to another one meter high barrier. Shepard helped her over, shouting,

"Move! Mordin, get that door open now!"

Jacob and Shepard carried Miranda the final steps while shooting at the Collectors, who were now coming out in force, as well as at concentrated seeker swarms; packed balls of the insect like machines that buffeted Miranda's barriers, sending waves of pain through her body. She was about to collapse, and she felt her barrier beginning to crumble. The seekers were now pressing in and swarming Shepard and Jacob. She could hear Shepard shout, "Mordin, the door! Now!" Shepard was holding his own, but Jacob was about to be literally carried off. Miranda would not let that happen.

Finding her last reserves, she unleashed the last of her power in an incendiary biotic pulse that blasted the swarms and Collectors to dust. She heard the door open and Mordin's voice shout, "We're in!"

Miranda collapsed in Shepard's arms, the last of her strength gone. She felt herself being carried inside and could hear Jacob and Shepard returning fire. Finally, she heard the door close. There was shouting and activity at the other side, but she had lost consciousness. She only knew that the swarms were gone before she passed out.


	21. Chapter 21: The Final Battle

**Chapter 21: The Final Battle!**

It was almost a repeat of the earlier shoot out at the door, only this time, Shepard was the one letting people in. As soon as Mordin had the door open, Garrus got all of the team in. Then he took a shot to the gut. Shepard was concerned, but Garrus shrugged it off. It turned out to be a flesh wound, though it was bleeding a bit. Shepard was relieved as he saw Garrus simply apply medigel and then start checking his weapon. Shepard's next priority was Miranda. She had wiped herself out keeping the barrier up, and then spent the last of her strength on that massive pulse that saved Jacob. Without that final effort Jacob would have been lost. But now, Miranda lay on the ground, exhausted. She had also taken some minor injuries, which Shepard now attended with medigel. Medigel not only healed wounds, but it was also a stimulant, and Miranda soon stirred.

"Ugh … how … how long was I out?" Her voice was ragged, worn. She sounded like she had just awoken from a very long sleep after a night of heavy partying. He was sure she felt like that too, hangover and all.

"Drink this," he said, handing her an energy drink. She imbibed deeply, but not too quickly. Color slowly returned to her face, easing his worries. He handed her an energy bar, which she gladly took, hurriedly tearing it open and eating. He saw the focus come back to her eyes and the strength returning to her body. Then a look of alarm came over her face, and she began looking around the room frantically.

"It's alright," he assured her. "Everyone made it. You saved Jacob too."

"How long was I out?"

"Only a few seconds." He lied; she had been out for about ten minutes, but it had taken that long for him to get everyone inside and for them to regroup, so she had not missed anything. He smiled at her as the calm returned to her face, and he felt her squeeze his hand as she smiled back. It was a weak smile; she still had not fully recovered from the ordeal of maintaining the barrier. Shepard was duly impressed by her efforts, which was hard to do; his expectations of her abilities were appropriately high. He suspected Samara could have done the same, and may have had more in reserve, but he doubted any other biotic could have, at least none he could think of. Kaiden certainly had never been capable of such a sustained expenditure of biotic power.

"Help me up, John." He looked at her a bit sternly as she asked; he really wanted her resting at least a little longer. Unfortunately, time was not a luxury they had, so he gently pulled her to her feet as he stood. Downing the last of her drink and energy bar, she stood confidently once more. Still holding his hand, she stood up on tip toes and kissed him. "Thanks."

He nodded, and then began taking stock of where they were. No enemies, and the position was defensible. He got on the com, and was please to find it working again.

"Joker, are you at the rendezvous point?"

"I'm here, Commander," replied Joker's voice. "Chakwas and the rest of the crew just showed up."

"Samara's group has arrived, Shepard," chimed in Edi's voice. "No casualties."

Shepard nodded, but before he could verbally respond, he was surprised to find Miranda already on it. It seemed that she wanted everyone to see that she was still in it.

"Excellent; now let's make it count. Edi, what's our next step?"

"There should be some nearby platforms that will take you to the main control console. From there, you can overload the system and destroy the base."

Now that was what Shepard wanted to hear; a solution to this whole thing, and an end to the mission. He was about to start planning when Joker chimed back in.

"Commander, you've got a problem. Hostiles massing just outside the door. Won't be long before they bust through."

That added another element of danger. He had hoped that he could just overload the base with the touch of a few buttons and the planting of the bomb, and then they could go home, but he knew that would have been too easy; nothing on this entire mission had gone according to plan, so why should things start now? Time to rally the troops. He walked to the platform and climbed atop it. Standing, he addressed his team.

"A rear guard could defend this position and keep us from getting overwhelmed." He was not surprised that Miranda again jumped in.

"Pick a team to go with you, Shepard. Everyone else can bunker down here and cover your back."

He noticed that as she spoke, just as when she had responded to Edi, she glanced at Jack, who had frequently challenged Miranda's authority since the biotic mercenary had been brought aboard. Shepard nodded and motioned for Miranda to join him on the platform, and then looked at Jacob. He had started this mission with the two of them at his side, and he would end it with the two of them at his side. Miranda beamed as he helped her atop the platform. Now, she looked fully energized and at full capacity. He recalled that she said that she healed rapidly, and he suspected that that was why. _What a team we make_ , he mused silently.

"I'm ready, Commander." Miranda's voice had even regained its mellifluous tone, no longer worn and ragged.

"Me too," he heard Jacob's gruff voice declare resolutely.

"Anything to say before we do this?" Miranda's question anticipated his intent to make a final speech to his crew. Indeed, she knew well his ability to rouse his team; he had done it many times over the years, spurring small teams to get results normally only obtainable by much larger forces. And today, he needed his team to be the greatest heroes the galaxy had ever seen. Normally, he would give a rousing, moving speech, but today, it was different. He needed their sharpest edge.

"Words shouldn't matter," he began, catching Miranda off guard. "People have died. If losing our friends isn't enough to make you want payback, then what are we doing here?" He saw Garrus, Zaeed, and Jack all nodding in agreement. "The Collectors blindside their targets; hit and run," he continued. "As powerful as they are, they're cowards. They've never had to stand and fight the best of us. And that's you!" Grunt pounded his fist against the palm of his opposite hand, smiling maniacally at this, as the rest of them beamed with pride. "I don't know if they can feel fear, but we're damned sure going to give them the opportunity." He walked as he spoke, moving about on the platform as if it were a stage, and addressing his audience as a whole, occasionally focusing on individuals or clusters of individuals, and maintaining eye contact. "Hit 'em hard," he concluded. "One way or another, it ends here!"

"Well said! Now let's finish this." Miranda's voice was filled with admiration, and just a bit of astonishment. He knew that many of his speeches were a matter of public record, and until now, he had always tried to be a paragon of the Marine Corps when speaking publicly. But this was not a public speech; this was his team that was about to go into battle one last time against an implacable foe, with the fate of the galaxy hinging on the outcome of the battle. He wanted them primed for destruction.

With the speeches out of the way, he activated the platform. It shuddered and shook as it dislodged itself from its resting place and began floating down a seemingly endless tube, thirty meters in diameter, at least. The tubes that had been connected to the pods that all of those people, hundreds of colonists, and his crew, all were routed through this massive passageway.

Before he could contemplate it further, the passage opened into another vast chamber, as the platform reached its final stop looking out over a vast chasm with no visible end. He heard Jacob emit a humorless laugh, saying, "Don't look down."

"Yeah," said Shepard, "and don't look now, but we've got company!" A floating platform came from across the cavernous chamber, its occupants being Collectors, one of which was one of Harbinger's avatars, hurtling dark energy bolts at them. They dodged and returned fire as best they could on the small platform, until finally, it docked with their own with percussive force, knocking Miranda to the floor. No sooner had Shepard helped her up, then the Collectors were upon them. Seven in total, they fired their particle beams mercilessly as Harbinger's avatar taunted them and hurled dark energy bolts, one taking Jacob down, another ripping Shepard's shields away as he struggled to protect Miranda.

Turning, he gave Harbinger an appropriate response, emptying his Carnifex into the possessed creature's face, as Miranda brought her own pistol to bear, taking head shots on the others. Jacob had regrouped and was firing his shotgun from cover. Before long, all seven were dispatched. Shepard motioned for them to move forward to the platform where the dead Collectors lay, kicking the bodies over the edge. Another platform was incoming, so the three dug in behind the barricade that bisected the platform and fired from cover, Shepard bringing his Widow rifle to bear. Between Jacob and Miranda firing their laser sighted Phalanx pistols and Shepard's rifle, the eight enemies were all dead before the platform docked. This time, they were prepared for the impact, and remained steady, moving forward to the next platform.

As before, a third platform was incoming, and this time, two scions were supporting eight Collectors, launching heavy artillery at the trio even before docking, and one of the eight possessed by Harbinger, hurtling dark energy blasts at them. They took out as many as they could before the platform docked, Shepard actually taking out Harbinger's avatar and one of the Scions with his sniper rifle. He switched to his Mattock assault rifle, and as soon as the platform docked, he advanced, hopping the barricade and striking one of the Collectors sharply in the head with the butt of the heavy rifle, then firing a concussive blast at the one behind him, and shooting the last one in the face, causing its head to explode. A puss like ichor oozed from the wound. They kicked the bodies off of this platform as well, bracing for another platform. Harbinger did not disappoint, and the trio dealt with it in much the same fashion.

Shepard was very pleased at what a tight, coordinated unit the three of them had become since he had first awakened aboard the doomed Lazarus Station. It reminded him of Ashley and Kaiden two years ago, only … only better! These small teams of Collectors, even with support of Harbinger and the scions, were going down more and more easily. The final platform contained two more scions and ten Collectors, plus one possessed by Harbinger. This time, they were much more aggressive, forcing the trio to fight entirely from cover. When Shepard took out Harbinger's avatar, another was immediately possessed, the onslaught of dark energy continuing relentlessly. But after an intense five minutes of shooting, they had vanquished all enemies on the platform. This time, the platform had a master control. Shepard directed them onto the final platform and activated the controls, taking the platform through another narrower section of tubes and wires.

Finally, he could see the endpoint ahead.

"This is it," he said. "All the tubes lead to this spot. Edi, what can you tell us?"

"The tubes are feeding into some kind of superstructure," replied Edi's voice in their earpieces. "It is emitting both organic and nonorganic energy signatures. Given these readings, it must be massive." Shepard was certain that he heard a sense of dread in Edi's voice. She continued, the same sense of dread in her voice. "Shepard, if my calculations are correct, the superstructure is … a Reaper."

"Not just any Reaper," Shepard replied as the passage opened up into a massive chamber, and the superstructure became visible. But unlike the one Reaper he had seen, this was not kilometers long, though it was massive. A skeletal humanoid construct some hundred feet in height hung, its arms outstretched and its head down, off to one side. The position reminded him of a cross between Frankenstein and a crucifix. The torso ended just past its ribcage, its spinal column dangling in the air over a massive chasm. "A Human Reaper," Shepard exclaimed.

"Precisely," Edi confirmed in a hushed tone barely louder than a whisper.

Shepard definitely could hear it; emotion in the AI's voice. He had thought he had noticed it after the Collectors had abducted the crew, then again in some brief conversations, but now, it was plainly heard. The platform came to a jarring stop right in front of the massive construct. Shepard could feel its malevolence. The thing was not even awake, but it exuded terror and evil. This was the greatest calamity ever to befall the Human race, and the Alliance was completely and willfully ignorant of it. Edi broke his train of thought, continuing to assess the scene from the Normandy.

"It appears the Collectors have processed tens of thousands of humans. Significantly more will be required to complete the Reaper."

"What do the Collectors gain by turning humans into this … Reaper shell?" Shepard asked the question rhetorically, though he knew Edi would answer.

"They may be facilitating the Reaper equivalent of reproduction," the AI explained. "Or it may serve another purpose. I do not have the data to speculate further. However, it is clear that the Collectors are merely pawns. The technology and ability needed to create this Reaper is not their own."

Miranda and Jacob were staring, open mouthed at the massive abomination. The color had drained completely from Miranda. He had never seen her so utterly horrified. Jacob just kept whispering, "No way, no way!"

"It is likely that different species construct each Reaper," continued Edi's voice. "In this case, the Collectors provide the labor."

"The Collectors are just Protheans," exclaimed Shepard. "Why would they help the Reapers?"

"The Reapers subdued the Protheans long ago," Edi replied. "Probabilities suggest they attempted to create a Prothean Reaper and failed. Over time, they adapted the Protheans to suit their needs. Changed them; turned them into workers. Tools for the Reapers."

"They're building it to look like a human," Shepard observed. "Why?"

"It appears that a Reaper's shape is based upon the species used to create it." Edi's answer made sense, but it led him to ask Edi another question.

"Reapers are machines; why do they need humans at all?"

"Incorrect," came Edi's reply. "Reapers are sapient constructs, a hybrid of organic and nonorganic material. The exact construction methods are unclear, but it seems probable that Reapers absorb the essence of a species, utilizing it in their reproductive process."

"How many more humans do you think they'd try to take?"

"Millions," Edi responded darkly. "Possibly more. Impossible to know for certain. This Reaper appears to be in a very early stage of development, an embryo in Human terms."

Shepard had heard enough. It was sickening. He looked over and saw Miranda and Jacob transfixed upon the thing. The horror of it all was simply too much for them. Shepard had seen the absolute worst things sapient beings perpetrated upon one another, and had seen far too many things he wished he could forget. This was just another such thing for him. The time had come for them to put an end to it.

"It's too big for our guns. Edi, find me a way to blow this thing to hell!"

"The large tubes injecting the fluid are a weak structural link," Edi replied. "Destroying them should cause the supports to collapse and the Reaper to fall."

Just then, he heard the hum of an incoming platform. The sound seemed to jolt Miranda and Jacob from their trance, prompting them to draw their weapons.

"Give us a minute, Edi," said Shepard nonchalantly. "We've got to take care of some old friends first."

"Hostiles at one o'clock," he heard Miranda shout. This time, the platform docked a few feet below them, giving them an actual terrain advantage. Before they could exploit it to great effect, however, another platform docked on the other side, come in from their eleven o'clock. The trio made good use of the terrain, however, and proved that mobility and improvisation trumped numbers. Shepard occasionally took shots at the injection tubes in between killing Collectors, the tubes exploding in an orange mist.

Finally the hostiles were down to a manageable number and there was only one tube left. Miranda and Jacob saw it too, and fell in to give him cover as he unslung his sniper rifle. He fired, causing the final tube to explode in an orange mist, just as the others had. And just as Edi had predicted, the supports began to buckle, the sounds of metal scraping and twisting filling the cavern, and the groans of the creature sounding like a malevolent death cry. Finally, the supports gave way completely and the proto-Reaper fell, taking both platforms full of hostiles with it. He looked over the edge, and could not see the bottom of the chasm into which it fell. Nor did he hear a final impact. It was simply … gone. With that out of the way, it was time to do what they came here to do; overload the base and get the hell out.

"Shepard to ground team," he called over his com. "Status report!"

"It's Thane," came the assassin's voice. "We are holding, but they keep coming. A quick exit is preferable."

"Head to the Normandy," Shepard ordered. Then he switched channels and said, "Joker, prep the engines. I'm about to overload this place and blow it sky high."

"Roger that, Commander," replied Joker.

 **{-O-}**

Miranda followed Shepard over to the control panel and stood by as he raised the reactor control module, calmly waiting for him to ask for the hack box equipped fusion bomb that would overload the reactor and create a nuclear detonation of its own. She marveled at the compactness of it; the bomb was more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb in a package the size of a baseball diamond. She looked at Jacob, who still stared out at the severed tubes still dripping what was left of all those people the Collectors had processed. She shuddered violently at the thought, nearly vomiting.

Then her eyes turned to the man who was about to blow the base up; the man who had defeated that … that thing. The man she loved. This was his second direct run in with the Reapers, and she wondered how he handled the enormity of it all. For her, it was overwhelming, but Shepard handled it like it was another day at the office. Of course, he was the hero of the Skillian Blitz and the savior of the Citadel; he had seen the enormity of what sapient beings could visit upon one another first hand many times. The thought about the experiments that Shepard had told her about; those Cerberus labs that he had shut down during his first run as a Spectre. The revelations that she had uncovered in her own investigating revealed that Cerberus was just as malevolent as any of them, at least at the leadership level, and that the Illusive Man would happily process people into bio-organic goo if he thought it would "advance the cause of Humanity." The thought made her ill. Something was seriously wrong with Cerberus, and it had happened after she had joined, of that she was certain. Then her thoughts seemed to create reality, as Joker's voice came over the com saying,

"Uh, Commander, I've got an incoming message from the Illusive Man. Edi's patching it through."

Miranda's omni-tool chimed with the incoming message alert, and she activated it, projecting the Illusive Man's image into their midst, her omni-tool giving him eyes and ears among them.

"Shepard, you've done the impossible," came the Illusive Man's voice, the holographic image speaking in time with the words. His voice was filled with admiration. Too bad it was all just a big manipulation. She wondered what his angle was. _Just like father_ , she realized.

"Not finished here yet," came Shepard's growl as he continued setting the device. "This base is ten minutes from extinction." Miranda really liked the sound of that, but she was not surprised when the Illusive Man offered a new plan.

"Wait," said the hologram. "I have a better option." _Of course you do, you bastard_ , she thought. He continued, and she could not believe the audacity of the man. "I'm looking at the schematics Edi uploaded. A timed radiation pulse would kill the remaining Collectors, but leave the machinery and technology intact." As he said that last part, Miranda finally saw it. The lust for power, undisguised, there in his eyes, face, and body language, He leaned forward, holding his fist up, like a predator about to devour his prey. "This is our chance Shepard," continued the hologram. "That knowledge, that framework – could save us."

"I came here to destroy it," she heard Shepard reply. He stood and turned to face the hologram. "But if you have another idea, I'm listening."

 _Oh please, Shepard, don't fall for it_ , she silently begged.

"We've won a single victory," the Illusive Man declared through the image. "But we're still at war. This base will give us the technology we need to fight the Reapers."

Shepard stood for a few moments. She watched him mulling over the proposal, just as she watched the Illusive Man practically chomping at the bit to goad Shepard into siding with him. She knew what the Illusive Man was like, but she had never seen him so … desperate. There was something … something in his eyes. Something … sinister. _God don't do it, Shepard_ , she thought.

Finally, Shepard spoke, and his response lifted the tension and fear from her.

"There's no way I can trust you with this; you're totally ruthless," spat the Commander. "Next thing I know, you'll be trying to grow your own Reaper."

"My goal is to fight the Reapers and win. At any cost," countered the Illusive Man's image. "I've never hidden that from you. I brought you back because I saw the value in you. Some people would say we went too far, but look at all you've accomplished! Don't discard this base!"

"We'll fight and win without it," Shepard responded bluntly. "I won't let fear compromise who I am." He then went right back to setting the charges.

 _Yes!_ Miranda was inwardly celebrating, jumping for joy, while to the outside world, she maintained her calm confidence. She had a feeling that she would finally be able to do what she had been planning ever since she discovered what Cerberus really was, and the Illusive Man did not disappoint.

"Miranda," the Illusive Man's image called, "don't let Shepard destroy this base!"

"Or what?" she asked smugly. "You'll replace me too?"

"Miranda," the Illusive Man growled, "I gave you an order."

"I noticed," she said. "Consider this my resignation."

Then she saw the panic in his eyes, and that's when she noticed it. His eyes were … artificial. She wondered how long they had been like that. Had they always been that way and she simply had ignored it? Or was it recent? It did not matter; the scales had fallen from her eyes. She knew Reaper tech when she saw it. He was indoctrinated. She wondered why she had not seen it before. Shepard then held his hand out to her, saying "Hack box." She handed it to him, a feeling of supreme satisfaction swelling up inside of her, as though her heart had just swelled. She wondered if this was how the Grinch felt in that old Christmas special.

The Illusive Man made one last impassioned plea to Shepard, saying, "Shepard, think about what's at stake! About everything Cerberus has done for you! You …" Miranda cut him off and shook her head. She could not believe how blindly she had once followed that man. But now, there was a new man in her life, and he was not the manipulative sort. Then that man stood, saying,

"Let's move. We've got ten minutes before the reactor overloads and blows this whole station apart." The control module sank back down into the floor, and the trio began moving, Shepard leading the way. That was when the Reaper attacked.

 **{-O-}**

Shepard could not believe it. Yes, the legless upper torso of the Human proto-Reaper had clawed its way back up and they were now fighting for their lives against not only it, but wave after wave of Collector troops, each led by Harbinger's avatar, but he expected things like that; it almost seemed his lot in life. No, it was Miranda that had truly shocked him. He could not believe that she had quit and told the Illusive Man to essentially go screw himself. As he fought off another wave of Collectors, he could not hide his smile. She had left Cerberus for him! He felt light as a feather as he danced through the battlefield, effortlessly killing the Collectors and taking the occasional shot at the Reaper.

Miranda was in the path of a blast from the proto-Reaper, but Shepard deftly killed one of Harbinger's avatars and dove to shield her simultaneously. Time was running out, so he kissed his lover, and unslung the massive M-920 Cain canon. He felt his adrenaline surge, and time seemingly slowed down. He pulled the trigger and held it as the massive heavy canon charged. Miranda and Jacob provided him cover fire as he zeroed in on his target; it's right eye socket. Finally pulling the trigger, the mortar was fired with surprisingly mundane sounding 'thunk.' But the explosion that followed as the shell penetrated the creature's eye was stupendous.

The frontal portion of its skull blew apart on the right side, spraying gouts of orange liquid, flame, and sparks. It pitched back from the force, and he could hear metal wrenching and straining as the massive head flew back, fighting to come away from its moorings. He loaded another charge and fired, striking it under the jaw, severing the head from its body. The head and the torso both cascaded into the chasm, well and truly dead this time. Its massive hands, however, slapped the shelf of interlocking platforms, upsetting them, and causing the entire floor to shake and start coming apart. Shepard had won, but he saw Miranda sliding down the now hanging section of the floor, terror in her eyes as she could not stop her rapid descent. Shepard dove after her. There was no way he would win the day, only to lose Miranda.

 **{-O-}**

Miranda felt the floor give way, and she found herself sliding down the now nearly vertical plane. She made the mistake of looking down and realized that she would be pitched into the chasm with the Human proto-Reaper. To have loved and won, only to die … it was unthinkable. She wanted to live. She clawed at the flooring, but could find no purchase. Concern gave way to fear, which gave way to panic. She was going to die.

"Miranda, grab on!" She heard Shepard's voice, but from where? Then she looked up, and there he was sliding down head first, his outstretched hand ready to grasp her own. She reached for him, but he was too far away, and the edge was fast approaching. She felt the tears in her eyes as she realized he would never make it to her in time. Then she felt the flooring give way and her body go into free fall. For just a moment, she was weightless. Then she began to fall. Then her arm wrenched as Shepard caught her. A sickening pop and the tearing of things never meant to be strained so hard echoed in her ears, and pain erupted in her now dislocated shoulder. But he had caught her. Unbelievably, he had caught her. And he had somehow found purchase and pulled her up, grabbing her left arm as soon as she could raise it.

"Oh my God it hurts!" she exclaimed, nearly blacking out from the pain.

"Don't worry; I've got you." His voice soothed her as he pulled her up and then put her over his back. "Hang on." She obeyed his command, wrapping her legs around his waist and her left arm around his neck. Thankfully, his armor would keep her from digging in and choking him. As he began to climb up, the station lurched violently, tossing them skyward. As they flew, she let go, and then she felt the hard impact of the floor. Then she blacked out.

 **{-O-}**

Shepard was pinned under a massive chunk of the station's wall, but had managed to remain conscious, his hardsuit and shields protecting him from serious impact. The weight, however, was crushing. Finding his inner reserves, he pushed his back upward and stood, tossing the debris aside and frantically looking for Miranda and Jacob. Jacob was nearby, and he helped the man to his feet. Miranda was a little further off, pinned by another large section of wall. Shepard lifted it off of her, fearing that she might be dead, but she stirred as he tossed it aside. Miraculously, she began to sit up, seeming to have come through it without any further serious injury. Her right arm, however, still hung limply.

"John," he heard her groan weakly. "Is it … over?"

"Not yet," he exclaimed. "Let's get out of here!"

He pulled her to her feet, and made a quick sling for her from the supplies in their first aid kit. Taking the pistol her left hand, she nodded, signaling her readiness to get moving.

"Are you alright?" He asked as they ran.

She nodded, but said, "It … hurts to talk."

"Don't talk then," he ordered. "Just stay alive!"

Then he heard Joker's voice crackle over his com.

"Commander! Do you copy Commander? Shepard, don't leave me hanging! Do you copy?"

"I'm here, Joker," Shepard replied as he and Miranda and Jacob began moving with urgency. "Did the ground team make it?"

"All survivors on board. We're just waiting for you."

He didn't like the sound of that; all survivors implied that some did not make it. But he could not think about that now. He got his lady and his friend moving fast as seeker swarms began chasing after them. Thankfully, their numbers were not dense enough to overwhelm Mordin's countermeasure. Then they all heard Harbinger spouting off at them as they ran.

"Human, you've changed nothing. Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater. That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction."

"Does … that bastard ever … shut up?" Miranda gasped out the rhetorical question, but Shepard just kept shooting, as now Collector troops were now shooting at them. He made sure that Miranda was safe, leading them to the exit from the base. As they neared the edge, they saw the Normandy appear in the distance, Joker in the open airlock laying down suppressing fire. Shepard motioned for Miranda to go first, as she was the most seriously injured, and then Jacob. Both made it aboard, jumping the few feet between the ledge and the airlock. Then the base shuddered and the ledge collapsed, leaving a massive chasm between the edge of the base and the Normandy. Shepard ran with all of his might, jumping the distance, reaching up with his left hand and hooking the airlock's edge. Garrus joined Joker at the door, pulling Shepard up and then firing into the Collectors. The door closed as the Normandy got moving.

"Detonation in ten, nine, eight," Edi was counting down, but Joker cut her off, saying,

"We get the gist of it, Edi. Hold on!" Joker jumped into his seat, and Shepard took the seat next to him. "Miranda's in the medbay," Joker added just as the ship jumped to FTL. Faster than light, the Normandy sped away, and they felt the shockwave of the base's explosion right before hitting the Omega-4 Relay. Before the ship was damaged, the Normandy was back in the Sahrabarik system in the Omega Nebula, the Omega-4 Relay in their rearview.

Shepard breathed a sigh of relief. It was finally over.


	22. Chapter 22: Resignation

**Chapter 22: Resignation**

Shepard stepped into the debriefing room for one final chat with the Illusive Man. He picked up a fallen piece from the ceiling and set it aside. Had walked through the CIC, and while it too had sustained damage, he was pleased and relieved to see all of the old familiar faces back at their posts. The crew that had once seemed lost had been rescued, and like the mission to Ilos, Shepard and his crew were again mutineers. Of course, going to Ilos, they had to hijack the ship before the mission in order to have any hope of stopping Saren. Now, it was after the mission, and both Shepard and the entire crew, his team included, were all ready to say goodbye to the Illusive Man and to Cerberus.

He activated the QEC, and sure enough, the Illusive Man's image materialized before him. And the man did not look happy. Glaring, the Illusive Man extinguished his cigar and immediately got to lecturing.

"Shepard, you're making a habit of costing me more than time and money."

"I know what you are," countered Shepard.

"Your ideals have cost us more than you can imagine!" The Illusive Man raged, but it was like waves crashing against cliffs. "The technology from that base could have secured human dominance in the galaxy. Against the Reapers and beyond!"

"Human dominance?" asked Shepard, unconvinced, "Or just Cerberus."

The Illusive Man stood, leaving his chair and walking right up to Shepard's image. If he had only had the guts to get this close to Shepard, Shepard would have punched his lights out.

"Strength for Cerberus is strength for every Human," raged the Cerberus leader. "Cerberus is Humanity! I should have known you'd choke on the hard decisions; too idealistic from the start."

"I know what you are," countered Shepard. "And the cost of dealing with you! We do things my way from now on. Harbinger is coming. And he won't be alone. I'm going to make sure we're ready when they get here. You can fall in line or step aside." Shepard made a grand sweeping gesture with his right hand, and finished saying, "But don't get in my way."

"You're sure that's what you want? You're taking a hell of a risk Shepard!"

Shepard realized that it was not rage in the Illusive Man's voice, but panic. He was losing control, and he knew it. And Shepard was a foe who gave even the Illusive Man pause. As close as he was to the camera, Shepard could see his eyes clearly. They were … Reaper tech! _He's indoctrinated!_

"I don't think so," replied Shepard. "I'm going to stop the Reapers, but I won't sacrifice the soul of our species to do it."

With that, he stepped out of the QEC field and shut off the communicator. This conversation was over. He still wore his armor, and it was high time that he get himself out of it. He had aches on top of aches, but nothing that some rest would not take care of. Rest, and a hot shower. And Miranda. It was a miracle that she had survived. Even more amazing, they had recovered the entire crew complement and the entire team had made it back alive, no casualties. He looked skyward, or at least ceiling-ward, and said, "Thanks!"

{-O-}

Miranda awoke in the medbay, her arm back in its socket and medigel infusions healing her torn ligaments. It still hurt, but not nearly so much as it had. She felt something on her head. Realizing that it was a device for dealing with head injuries and concussions, she now knew that she must have suffered a concussion.

"Miranda Lawson." She heard Doctor Chakwas' English accented voice say her name. "You and Shepard … the whole team … you saved us."

Miranda sat up as the doctor came over to attend to her, removing the device from her head and checking the readings.

"You look fit, though probably not for duty in the field," the doctor declared. Before Miranda could answer, Chakwas put down the equipment and hugged her. "Thank you."

"Thank you, Karin," came Shepard's voice. "You saved her."

Miranda looked up to see Shepard wearing the black uniform he had worn for Kasumi's heist. It fit him well, showing off his physique without being tight. She felt herself blush as she looked at him, but did not look away self-consciously; those days were gone.

"John!" Miranda tried to get up, but felt dizzy and quickly stopped.

"Commander," said the doctor in a low, almost reverent voice. "You and Jeff came for us so quickly. I have never had truer friends."

"How are you feeling, Doc?" Shepard asked, taking Miranda's hand as he spoke. Miranda just held onto him, remaining silent. She had Shepard; nothing else mattered now.

"I can never unsee what we saw, but I am fine otherwise," pronounced the Doctor. "No lasting injuries to any of us, in fact. Even Miranda will be back to her old self soon enough."

But Miranda knew better.

"My old self is gone," Miranda declared emphatically. "John, you've changed me. Or maybe you just helped me to find the girl I was all those years ago. Either way, I am not the same person I was. And thank God, I never will be that person again. For the first time, I like my life. I like who I am. No doubts, no fears. And I have you to thank for that, John."

"Miri," he replied, encircling her in his arms as he sat down with her, "you brought me back from the brink of death. Or perhaps from even further than that! If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be having this conversation. And I have _you_ to thank for that. And I have never felt so loved as I did when you said yes, right before we went through the Omega-4 Relay."

She felt a bright blush spreading across her cheeks, but again, she did not turn away. Instead, she kissed him passionately. No more words were necessary; she finally understood what it meant when people said that they were 'in sync' with their partner. She and Shepard had developed a very deep emotional bond, one that would only grow stronger the longer they were together. When she took this mission on, it had been to save Humanity. But a promise made long ago had been kept, and her once frozen heart had thawed. Her passion now burned hot within her, something she had never experienced with any partner. And save Humanity they did. Just as they were meant to: together.

 **{-O-}**

Mordin took one, long, last look at the tech lab. Stopping the Collectors had been the climax of an adventure that began with his developing a cure for the plague on Omega, and Shepard showing up with Miranda and Jacob to get the cure into the ventilation systems of the slum district. Now, it was about to end. He had offers from the Salarian government, and would return to Sur'Kesh once the Normandy docked at the Citadel. Then there was Maelon's cure. He made sure that the data was secure, and backed up. It could not go to waste; Shepard had opened his eyes to the damage wrought by the genophage. It was time to begin undoing that damage.

His thoughts were interrupted when Miranda entered. Gone was her Cerberus uniform, replaced by a loose top and sweat pants. He knew that she was leaving Cerberus; most of the crew was, but for her to dress down this much was very out of character.

"Mordin, I have one final task for you. And we haven't much time."

"Yes, yes, yes," he replied. "One final challenge! Appropriate way to break our fellowship?"

"Fellowship?"

"Yes," he explained. "Human literature; JRR Tolkien. The Fellowship of the Ring."

Miranda nodded, understanding the reference. "Yes, I suppose there are parallels. But this is … unrelated to the Collectors and the Reapers. This is personal." The placed a datapad on his desk. "I've tried for years to find answers, and been to every specialist with the credentials to solve it, and I have nothing but dead ends to show for it."

He picked up the data pad, looking at the problem.

"Fix it," was all she said.

"Very well," Mordin replied. "Let's get started."

 **{-O-}**

The Normandy sat in dry dock at the Citadel, courtesy of the Alliance. The ship was receiving much needed repairs, before Shepard finally took it to Earth for Alliance retrofits. The Cerberus crew excepting Ken and Gabby had all either returned to Cerberus, or returned home. Karin Chakwas stayed on, and surprisingly, so did Jack, though his squad had pretty much all gone their own way. Thane would live out his remaining days with his son; Garrus returned to Palaven; Samara had resumed her justicar duties; Tali returned to the Migrant Fleet; Mordin had returned to Sur'kesh, Grunt to Tuchanka, Zaeed had found another job, Kasumi joining him, Legion had returned to Geth space, and Jacob had opted not to rejoin the Alliance, preferring to go his own way.

Shepard heard on the news that a relay in Batarian space had been destroyed, and that the Batarians were blaming the Alliance. He assumed he would eventually be briefed on that, but for now, he was on his way to greet Anderson, Miranda at his side.

"Are you … sure about this?" Miranda looked at him dubiously, but John nodded.

"Of course," he replied. "I've already worked out some of the details with Councilor Anderson and Admiral Hackett. Udina's not in the picture, so that'll make things that much easier."

"So there won't be a platoon of Alliance MPs waiting to take me into custody?"

"Sorry," he said with a shrug. "Besides, I've already captured you."

"And I you, don't forget that!" She playfully punched his arm.

They arrived at the Human Embassy, where Councilor Anderson and a tall woman in an Alliance uniform stood waiting.

"Shepard," Anderson greeted.

"John!" The woman, looking about twenty years older than John, ran to him.

"Mom!"

Shepard and his mother embraced, and then he turned to Miranda. "Mom, you remember Miri Lawson?"

Admiral Hannah Shepard smiled, held her arms out to hug Miranda. "Come here, child," she said, embracing Miranda tightly. "I could never forget you, dear. You were such a wonderful girl. And you've become such a beautiful young woman."

Miranda's eyes were misted over, but she held herself together. Shepard understood. Miranda had no mother; only a crazy father. Hannah Ammel, now Hannah Shepard, had always loved Miri when she came to visit, and with her engagement to Shepard, Admiral Hannah Shepard would become Miranda's mother in law.

"She said yes," Shepard said with a smile.

Hannah pulled back, looking at Miranda, smiling. "I'll finally have a daughter," she exclaimed.

Miranda was now crying. "I'll have a mother."

"Congratulations, Shepard," Anderson said. "I expect an invitation."

"You'll have one," Shepard assured.

Miranda was visibly overjoyed, but she wiping tears of joy from her eyes, she asked the question that had been on her mind. "Councilor Anderson, I am very honored to meet you. But what happens to me now?"

"That depends on you, Miss Lawson. Legally, you're free and clear," the councilor explained. "We've made sure of that, but there's an offer that I am going to extend. It's one you need to decide on."

"Oh?"

"Yes; it seems the first human Spectre has put your name forth as a Spectre candidate," Anderson explained. "From what I know of you, you're more than qualified. And you've already been evaluated by a Spectre in the field."

Miranda could hardly believe it. Being a Spectre was like being an operative … only without the Illusive Man. It would render her immune to any prosecution for anything she did with Cerberus that the Alliance considered a crime, and it would possibly enable her to work in the field with Shepard.

"I never would have dreamed," she began. "Yes, Councilor, yes! Thank you." Then she kissed John. Her heart swelled with love for him; instead of trying to turn her into an Alliance soldier, he had come up with a way to do what she did best.

"Alright then," Anderson said. "We'll get the particulars out of the way later. But for now, I need to debrief you both about the Collector mission."

The four of them sat at the table, hot coffee all around, and the debriefing began. Anderson seemed to have renewed confidence, and Miranda and Shepard both hoped that maybe, just maybe, the truth might finally be acknowledged.

 **The End …**

 **But not the finale! This AU love story of Shepard and Miranda will continue!**


End file.
